
<jfass_37? 763 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



I 



Annals 
*f 

Evangelical Nonconformity, 



ANNALS OF 

EVANGELICAL 

NONCONFORMITY 



^ountg of 3Es«ex, 

FROM THE TIME OF WYCLIFFE TO THE RESTORATION; 

WITH 

MEMORIALS 



ES : VINISTERS WHO WERE EJECTED OR SILENCED 
IN 1660 — 1662, 

i b :-f Notices of the Essex Churches which Originated tuith their Labours. 



T. W: DAVIDS, 

PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LION WALK, COLCHESTER. 



LONDON : 
JACKSON, WALFORD, AND HODDER, 

27, Paternoster Row. 

1863. 



1 \y 






\ 



LONDON : 

WARREN HALL AND CO., STEAM PRINTERS, 

CAMDEN ROAD, N.W. 



55^0 



oe, 



< I € 



PREFACE 



The following pages have been much too hastily com- 
piled to consist with any pretensions to completeness. I 
shall be thankful if the pressure under which I have written 
has not betrayed me into serious inaccuracies. The volume 
was undertaken in consequence of a request made to me 
in the beginning of last year by the Committee of the Essex 
Congregational Union. At that-time I had made little or no 
special preparation for a work of the kind ; and since, I have 
had to collect and to arrange the necessary materials amidst 
the constant interruptions incident to an important pastoral 
charge, which I could not neglect, not to speak of other public 
duties which have also made considerable demands upon my 
leisure time. Had I seen all the labour which it has involved, 
I should more than probably have shrunk from the task. 
Having undertaken it, however, I had no alternative, but to do 
my best. 

It will be seen that I have not only availed myself freely of 
such materials as I found already published, but that I have 
also largely made use of the MS. treasures which are deposited 
in the British Museum, the Record Office, Redcross Street 



vi Preface. 

Library, and elsewhere. I have gratefully to acknowledge 
the great courtesy which has been shown me by the authorities 
and others entrusted with the care of these documents. I 
have also been at pains to secure such information as I could 
obtain from Parochial Registers, and other local sources. This 
involved me in an extensive correspondence, especially with 
the clergy, not only of Essex, but also of other counties. 
I cannot speak too thankfully of the kindness with which 
my enquiries have been entertained, and, for the most part, 
answered. The replies with which I have been favoured, 
amounting in number to nearly five hundred, I shall carefully 
preserve, were it only for the honourable testimony which they 
bear to the gentlemanly feeling, and the Christian courtesy, 
which happily distinguish the clergy of our day. Individual 
obligations I have acknowledged in connection with the facts 
to which they severally refer. 

My warmest thanks are also due to Charles Gray Round, 
Esq., of Birch Hall; Joshua Wilson, Esq., of Tunbridge 
Wells ; the Rev. A. B. Grosart, M.A., of Kinross, N.B. ; and 
Mr. James Hurnard, one of the keepers of the library at the 
Friends' Meeting House in this town, for the loan of valuable 
books, some of which I should not otherwise have been able 
to consult, as they are not to be met with in any of the public 
libraries to which I have had access ; to H. W. King, Esq., 
of Tredegar Square ; and Edward Sage, Esq., of Stoke New- 
ington, for important information which they have kindly 
supplied from the results of their own private researches, and 



Preface, vii 

to Augustus Charles Veley, Esq., of Braintree, ' Deputy- 
Registrar of the Commissary Court of the Bishop of London, 
and Consistory Court of Rochester for the parts of Essex and 
Herts, and Registrar of the Archdeaconries of Essex and 
Colchester,' to whose kindness I am greatly indebted, espe- 
cially for allowing me to make such search of the c Act Books ' 
of the Archdeaconries as my limited time would admit of. I 
have also to acknowledge assistance kindly rendered me in my 
researches by my friends, the Revs. H. P. Bowen, of Brent- 
wood ; A. Buzzacott, B.A., of Romford ; T. B. Sainsbury, 
B.A., of Finchingfield ; H. Gammidge, of Dunmow ; B. 
Dale, M.A., of Halifax;* J. Wager, of Southend; and 
George Gould, of Norwich ; the Rev. B. H. Cooper, B.A., 
and others whose favours I have noticed elsewhere. 

I have studiously abstained from comment, preferring to 
leave the facts which I have collected to speak for them- 
selves, and have always endeavoured to give the facts as nearly 
as I could in the very words of the authorities on which they 
are alleged. The Appendixes to Chapters IV. and VII. 
I hope will not be without value. The first will enable the 
reader to form some estimate of the religious condition of the 
county on the expulsion of the Puritans under Aylmer ; and 
the second and third, when studied in connection with the 
Memorials, will enable him to judge, the one of them, of the 
condition of the county on the breaking out of the unhappy 

* Author of 'The Annals of Coggcs- of Essex.' Coggeshall, Coventry ; London, 
hall, otherwise Sunnedon, in the county Smith, Soho Square, 1663, 8vo. p. 363. 



viii Preface. 

civil war, and the other of the change which was effected 
under the Long Parliament and the Protectorate. In compiling 
the Memorials I have been careful to anticipate the question, 
how the Nonconformists obtained their several cures, and also, 
as far as possible, to trace the course of their ministry after 
their ejectment. I have especially to regret the~ extreme 
brevity with which I have been compelled, by want of space, 
to treat this part of the volume : and scarcely less, that in 
noticing the churches which originated with the sufferers from 
the Act of Uniformity, I have been able to do little more 
than recite the succession of pastors from their foundation to 
the present time. 

That I have c done well, and as the story deserved,' I dare 
not hope : but, ' if I have spoken slenderly and barely,' and I 
feel but much too deeply that I have, ' it is that I could.' * 

T. W. D. 



Colchester, June, 1863. 



* 2 Maccabees xv. 39. 



CONTENTS. 



PART THE FIRST. — ANNALS. 



CHAPTER I. 1380— 1532. 

Wyclyffists; Colchefter, Pattiswick, Manuden, St. Osyth, Boxted. 
Tyndale's Teftaments ; Colchefter, Witham, Braintree, Boxted, 
Horksley, Steeple Bumpfted. < Heresy' at Halfted, St. Osyth, 
Colchefter, Bumftead, Birdbrooke, Doniland, Billericay. The 
Rood at Dovercourt, King, Marsh, Debnam, Gardiner, and Rose. 



CHAPTER II. 1532—1553. 

Marriage of Henry. Cranmer at Waltham Abbey, and New Hall, 
Boreham. Divorce of Henry. Act of Supremacy. Marriage of 
Anne. Frith at Milton. Articles of 1536. Bifhop's Book. The 
English Bible. Maiden, of Chelmsford. Cowbridge, of Colchefter. 
The Six Articles. Death of Henry. Acceflion of Edward. Udal, 
of Braintree. The Prayer Book. Sectaries at Bocking. Preaching 
reftrained. Putto, of Colchefter. The Forty-two Articles. Death 
of Edward ... ... 



CHAPTER III. 1553—1558. 

Lady Jane Grey. Acceflion of Mary. Bourne, of Ongar. Rogers, of 
Chigwell, and Bradford, of Saffron Walden. Mary Honeywood. 
Rose, of West Ham. Brown, member for Colchefter, Deprivals 
of married clergy. Hawkes, of Coggefhall. Hunter, of Brentwood. 
Piggot, of Braintree, and Knight, of Maldon. Laurence, of Col- 
chefter. Higbed, of Horndon, and Caufton, of Thundersley. 
Layes, of Thorpe. Drakes, of Thundersley. The Spurges, Cavell, 



13 — 25 



Contents. 



and Ambrose, of Booking. Andrew, of Horksley. Flower. 
Wats, of Billericay. Meeting of Martyrs at Chelmsford. Osmond, 
Bamford, and Chamberlain. Simpson, and Ardeley. Newman, 
of Saffron Walden. Whittel and Went, Potter, Ellis, Horns, and 
Thackvel, of Billericay. Katherine Hut, Lyfter, Mace, Spencer, 
Joyne, Nichols, Hammond, and Grasbroke. Lavercock, and 
Apprice. Thirteen burnt at Stratford. Twenty-three persons ap- 
prehended ' at one clap.' Tye, vicar of Bentley, and the Munts. 
The Bongeours and their companions at Colchefter. Allerton. 
Eagles. Comforters of the persecuted. Congregation at Colchefter. 
Cornet, of Roehedge. Chadsey at Colchefter. Three last victims. 
Death of Mary ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 26—55 



CHAPTER IV. 1558— 1602. 

AcceiTion of Elizabeth. Prisoners in bonds. Apprehensions for preaching. 
Act ' to reftore to the Crown the ancient jurisdiction. ' Act of Uni- 
formity. The Prayer Book. Return of the Exiles. Injunctions. 
Parker. Re-organization of the Hierarchy. Convocation of 1562. 
Kitchen, of Stifted, and Holland, of Bocking. Persecution. Con- 
gregationalifts. Address of Eflex Gentry. Act ' for the minifters 
of the church to be of sound religion.' ' Sectaries ' at Strethall, and 
Saffron Walden. Aylmer. Executions at Bury. Oliver Pigg, 
Wright, Lord Rich, and Greenwood, of Rochford. Richard Rich. 
Withers, of Danbury. Whitgift and the new subscription. Re- 
newed severities against the Puritans. Petition of Eflex minifters. 
Appeal of the Privy Council to the Prelates. Elections of 1586. 
Petitions from Maldon, Rochford, and other places. Petition of 
suffering minifters. Execution of Greenwood. Act * to reftrain 
the Queen's Majefty's subjects in their due obedience.' Death of 
Elizabeth ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 56 — 87 



APPENDIX. 

A Contemporary * Survey of Sixteene Hundreds in the County of Eflex, 
containing Benefices 3355 wherein there are of ignorant and un- 
preaching minifters, 1735 of such as have two benefices a-piece, 61 ; 
of non-residents that are single beneficed, 10; preachers of a scanda- 
lous life, 12} — summa totalis, 225. The Hundreds wanting are 
Harlow Half-hundred, Waltham Hundred, Beacontree Hundred ;' 
with biographical Notes, and Memorials of the more prominent 
Puritan Ministers of the County ... ... ... ... ... 88 — 126 



Contents. xi 



CHAPTER V. 1603—1609. 

PAGE 

Antecedents of James. Millenary Petition. Proclamation. Hampton 
Court Conference. Speech of James at the Opening of Parliament. 
Convocation and Canons of 1604. Conformity enforced. Bancroft. 
Speech of James in Council. Persecution. Negus, Culverwell, 
Rufticus, Ames. Abbot. Martyrdom of Leggatt. Drax, of 
Dovercourt. Book, of Sports. Laud. Acceffion of Charles I. 
Mountague, of Stamford Rivers. Sequeftration of Abbott. Laud's 
promotion. Elections of 1627. Speech of Alford, M.P. for Col- 
chefter. Manwaring. Cromwell's maiden speech. Suspenfion of 
the Conftitution ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 127 — 144 



CHAPTER VI. 1629— 1639. 

Laud and the Lecturers. Harsnett. Rogers, of Dedham ; Rogers, of 
Wethersfield ; and Archer, of Halfted. Hooker and Eliot, of 
Chelmsford. Collins, of Braintree. Browning, of Rawreth. Peti- 
tion of the Clergy in favour of Hooker. Petition of the Clergy for 
the enforcement of Conformity. Suspension and Exile of Hooker. 
Exile of Eliot. Suspension and Exile of Shepard, of Colne. Exile 
of John Wilson, and John Norton. Collins, of Braintree, in 
trouble. Innes, of Dovercourt. Reports about the lecturers. 
Colchefter. Laud and the Impropriations. Laud archbifhop. 
John Baftwick. Laud's * inftructions.' Book of Sports. Dutch 
and Walloon Churches. Wheeler, of Colchefter. Attack on the 
Press. The ' Ex-officio' Oath. Emigration forbidden ... .. 145- 



CHAPTER VII. 1640— 1647. 

Parliament called. Essex Elections. Petition from Essex. Speech of 
Harbottle Grimftone. Convocation. New Canons. The ' Et 
Caetera' Oath. Speech of Grimftone. Impeachment of Laud. 
Grimftone's speech. Grimftone and Selden. The Proteftation. 
Bill against Pluralities. Resolution against the innovations of Laud. 
Irish rebellion. Smectymnus. Petitions from Essex and from Col- 
chefter. Trained Bands at Dunmow. Lecturers at Saffron Walden, 
Dagenham, and Barking. Walthamftow. Sequeftrations. As- 
sembly of Divines. County Committee for Scandalous Minifters. 
The Directory. Petitions for the eftablifhment of Prefbyterianism. 
Appointment of the ' Classis ' ... ... ... ... ... 183 — 216 



xii Contents. 



APPENDIX. No. i. 

PAGE 

The Sequeftrations, with extracts from the Minutes of the County Com- 
mittee, and other documents, showing the reasons why they severally 
took place ... 217 — 254 



APPENDIX. No. 2. 

The Division of the County of EfTex into several Classes, together with 
the names of the minifters and others fit to be of each Classis ;' 
with biographical notices of the persons mentioned, and some account 
of the incumbents who are not mentioned on the 'Classes' ... 255 — 306 



CHAPTER VIII. 1647— 1662. 

The EfTex Teftimony.' Siege of Colchefter. Execution of Charles. 
The EfTex Regicides. ' The Agreement of the People of England.' 
c The EfTex Watchmen's Watchword.' Royalist Conspiracies. 
Cawton and Jenkyn. The Protectorate. Repeal of ' Promissory 
Oaths and Engagements.' The ' Triers.' County Commiffioners 
for ' Scandalous and Insufficient Minifters.' Baxter's teftimony to 
the result of their labours. Parnell at Coggefhall : his death, and 
the verdict of the coroner's inquest. Death of Oliver. Richard's 
first Parliament. The ' Rump.' Charles' ' Declaration ' from 
Breda. Address of the EfTex gentry to Monk. The ' Convention 
Parliament.' Grimftone's Speech. Recall of Charles. Grim- 
stone's Address to the King on his return. Act 'for the confirming 
and reftoring of Minifters.' The ' Pensionary Parliament.' Turner, 
of Parndon, chosen speaker : his address to Charles. Convocation. 
The Common Prayer. Act ' for the well-governing and regulating 
of Corporations.' The Mayor of Colchefter. Act of Uniformity. 
Turner's Speech. Enforcement of the Act : contemporary teftimony 
to the results. Conclusion ... ... ... ... ... ,,. 307 — 335 



PART THE SECOND.— MEMORIALS. 



CHAPTER I. 
MINISTERS SILENCED OR EJECTED IN THE COUNTY OF ESSEX. 



PAGE 

Edward Keightley 339 

Samuel Brinsley 341 

Richard Pepps 342 

John Fifher 343 

Chriftopher Wragg 343 

Thomas Gilson 344 

John Beadle 346 

Edward Thomas 348 

Thomas Beard 350 

Isaac Grandorge 351 

John Oakes 35a 

— Lax 354 

— Carr 354 

John Argor 354 

John Chandler 357 

Edward Symmes 358 

Mark Mott ' . . 358 

Thomas Archer 358 

John Harvey 360 

James Willett 360 

John Moore 361 

John Sames 363 

Owen Stockton 365 

Edward Warren 373 

George Downe 377 

John Clark 377 

John Bigley 377 

Robert Thompson 378 

John Yardley 378 

Richard Man 379 



PAGE 

Matthew Newcomen , . . . 380 

George Smith , 383 

John Smith 384 

Martin Holbeach 386 

John Harper 387 

Nathaniel Ranew 389 

Thomas Conftable ..... 391 

Hugh Glover 391 

Thomas Greggs 396 

John Bulkley 397 

Robert Davey 400 

Josias Church 400 

— Waters 401 

William Sparrow 402 

Richard Cardinal 404 

John Warren 404 

Thomas Ellis 406 

Samuel Ely 406 

Samuel Crossman 408 

— Farnworth 409 

Robert Dod 410 

— Jenkyns 410 

John Willis 411 

Henry Coleman 413 

Samuel Borfet 414 

Edmund Whifton 415 

Henry Harvey 415 

William Milner 416 

John Benson 417 

Philip Anderton 418 



y 



XIV 



Contents. 



PAGE 

Timothy Clark 420 

Henry Lukin 420 

Thomas Horrocks 422 

Edmund Calamy, jun 427 

Malachi Harris 430 

Thomas Hubbard 431 

Edward Sparhawke 432 

— Barnaby 433 

John Hubbert 433 

John Lorkin 434 

John Lavender 436 

George Purchas 437 

— Baftwick 439 

Ralph Hilles ....... 440 

— Blakeley 441 

Henry Esday 442 

Thomas Peck 443 

Abraham Clyfford 444 

George Moxon 445 

Abraham Caley 446 

William Clopton 447 

Daniel Ray 448 

George Lisle 449 

John Wood 450 

William Sandford 452 

Samuel Smith 452 

Giles Firmin 457 

Zechariah Fitch 461 



PAGE 

George Bound ....... 462 

Robert Watson 465 

John Reeve ....... 465 

Henry Havers 467 

Matthew Ellifton 471 

Robert Abbot 473 

Lewis Calendrine 474 

Samuel Bantoft 475 

— Angel 478 

Thomas Clark 479 

Martin Sympson 485 

— Green 485 

Richard Rand 486 

John Stalham . . . . . . . 486 

James Parkin 490 

Francis Chandler 496 

John Overed 499 

John Robotham 502 

Chriftopher Scott 504 

John Harrison ....... 505 

William Powel 506 

William Rathband 506 

Samuel Dowel 509 

John Cole 509 

Robert Billio 512 

Thomas Deersley 515 

John Ludgater 518 

Robert Chadsley 521 



CHAPTER II. 

MINISTERS FORMERLY SETTLED IN ESSEX WHO WERE EJECTED 
OR SILENCED IN OTHER COUNTIES. 



Samuel Auftin . 
Robert Adkins 
Paul Amarott . 
William Bridge 
John Brinsley . 
Edmund Calamy 
Solomon Carswill 
Richard Cleyton 
John Fuller 



5 2 4 
524 
526 
528 
53i 
533 
538 
539 
54i 



PAGE 

Henry Goodyere 541 

Richard Hutton 542 

William Jenkyn 543 

John Johnson 546 

John Knowles 547 

Thomas Lawson 551 

Thomas Lowry 552 

Thomas Mall 553 

Thomas Micklethwaite .... 554 



Contents. 



xv 



J 



PAGE 

John Owen 554 

John Page 565 

Elias Pledger 565 

William Sedgwick . . . . . 566 

Edward Sherman 567 

Joseph Sherwood 568 

Samuel Smith 569 

Lemuel Tuke 570 



PAGE 

William Voyle 573 

Thomas Waterhouse 573 

Benjamin Way 573 

Thomas Weld 574 

John Weftley 575 

William Whitaker 577 

Henry Wilkinson 578 



CHAPTER III. 



NATIVES OF ESSEX WHO WERE SILENCED OR EJECTED IN 
OTHER COUNTIES. 



PAGE 

Samuel Angier 581 

John Arthur 584 

Thomas Browning . '. . . . 586 

Thomas Cawton . . . . . . 587 



PAGE 

John Collinges 589 

Daniel Dyke 592 

John Ray 593 



CHAPTER IV. 

MINISTERS SILENCED OR EJECTED IN OTHER COUNTIES WHO 
AFTERWARDS SETTLED OR LABOURED IN ESSEX. 



PAGE 

Samuel Backler .596 

Nathaniel Ball 596 

William Blackmore . . . . 599 

John Butler 601 

Samuel Cradock 602 

Francis Crow 603 

Thomas Doolittle 606 

— Day 607 

Samuel Fairclough 609 

Richard Fairclough , . . . . 615 

Samuel Fairclough, jun 617 

William Folkes 618 

Robert Gouge ....... 618 



PAGE 

Francis Holcroft 619 

Robert Howlett 621 

Joseph Oddy 621 

Jonathan Paine 622 

Edward Rogers 622 

Stephen Scandaret 623 

Samuel Slater 627 

James Small 629 

Richard Taylor 629 

Thomas Wadsworth 630 

— Woodward 631 

Abraham Wright 631 



CHAPTER 1. 



1380-1532. 



THE prominence of Essex in the annals of Evangelical 
Nonconformity is second to that of no other county in 
the kingdom. While John Wycliffe was yet in the zenith of his 
usefulness his followers were already numerous here. It is also 
possible at least, that the first known Wycliffist martyr was an 
Essex man.* Essex was afterwards one of the fields of labour 
into which itinerant preachers were sent forth by Sir John 
Oldcaftle, Lord Cobham, and his friends. f 



* John Ball, who was executed at St. 
Alban's nominally on the charge of high 
treason, but really for the crime of heresy, 
July 15, 1381, ... * dilectus sequam 
Wycclyff sacerdos dominus Johannes Balle, 
qui incarceratus erat per Simonem, Can- 
tuariensem archiepiscopum, etWillelmum 
Londoniensem episcopum, propter hsereses 
quas praedicavit 5 et in ilia insurrectione 
communitas liberavit eum a carcere. . . . 
Qui videns se damnatum esse, vocavit ad 
eum Willelmum Londoniensem episco- 
pum, et post Cantuariensem ; et dominum 
Walterum Lee militem ; et Johannes 
Profete notarium ; et ibi confitebatur 
publice eis quod per biennium erat disci- 
pulus Wycclyff et ab eo didicerat haereses 

quas docuit Qui etiam dixit quod 

erat certa comitiva de sectu et doclrrina 
Wycclyff, qui . . . . se ordinaverunt cir- 
cuire totam Angliam praedicando praedidti 
Wycclyff materias quas docuerat; ut sic 
simul toto Anglia consentiret suae per- 
versae doclxinae.' — Fasciculi Zizaniorum 
Magiftri Johannis Wyclif cum Tritico : 



ascribed to Thomas Netter of Walden, 
edited by the Rev. W. W. Shirley, M.A. 
London, 1858. Netter, otherwise known 
as Thomas Waldenfis, was a native of 
Saffron Walden, — ' He was for sixteen 
years provincial of his order through all 
England. He was also confessor and 
privy-counsellor to Henry VI., ' who died 
in his bosome.' ' Fuller, Worthies, 334, 
ed. 1662. There is a letter of John 
Ball's printed in Baker's Chronicle, p. 
139, in which he calls himself 'now of 
Colchefter.' See also A Complete Hist, 
of England 5 — this part of the Hist, was 
written by Thomas Cox, Vicar of Broom- 
field, 1685 — 1733. Morant, Hist, of 
Essex, ii. 78. A John Ball was Reclor 
of St. James, Colchefter, about that date. 
Newcourt, Rep. Eccl. ii. 169. Wil- 
liam Sautre did not suffer till 1400. Fox 
iii. 221, ed. 1837. 

+ Brief Cronycle concernyng the exa- 
mynacioun of Sir John Oldcaftle, reprint, 
1720. Gilpin's Life of Sir John Old- 
castle, 1725. 

B 



2 Pattiswick, Colchester^ Manurden. 

In the year 1402, we read of one John Becket, of the parish 
of Pattiswick, as a sufferer for Wycliffist opinions.* In 1428 
we find a letter c directed to John Exeter, and Jacolet Jermain, 
Keeper of the Caftle of Colcheiler, for the apprehending of Sir 
William White, priest, and other Lollards.' White was 
apprehended in Norfolk. On the 13th of September he was 
brought in chains before William, Bifhop of Norwich, Thomas 
Netter and others, in the Episcopal Chapel at Norwich, and 
underwent a long examination. He had been previouily 
abjured by Henry Chicheley, the Archbifhop of Canterbury. 
Among other things laid to his charge were, that he had taught 
that ' every believer in Christ Jesus is a priest of the chosen 
Church of God ; that the matter of the bread is not deftroyed 
in the Eucharist, and so converted into the nature of the body 
of Christ, but that it suffices the faithful to believe that it is 
the body of Christ in remembrance, but real bread in nature ; 
and that any believer might freely preach the Word of God, 
even though he had not been sent or licensed by the ordinary.' 
It also appears that he had married one Johanna, and had been 
active, since his recantation, in disseminating his opinions in 
the neighbourhood of Colchefrer.t Fox tells us that White 
was burnt before the end of the month at Norwich, and adds 
to his brief notice of the martyrdom of White — c About the 
same time also were burned Father Abraham, of Colcheiler, and 
John Waddon, priest.' 

In 1430, Thomas Bagley, c a valiant disciple and adherent 

* 'Asserebat doctrinam Wycleffiano- in parochia de Bergholt nostrae diocefis 

rum probatiorem, atque praestantiorem Johannem Scutte laicum, tuum discipu- 

esse, quam ulla fuit hactenus, quae in Ca- lum, ut officio presbyteri fungeretur in- 

tholica Ecclesia docebatur.' Harpsfield, duxsti, ipsumque ut panem frangeret, 

Hist. Wycleff. 719, ed. 1622. Nicholas ac gratiasDeo ageret, et panem hujusmodi 

Harpsfield was Redlor of Laingdon cum tibi tuae eoncubinae, Willelmo Everdon, 

Basildon 1554 — 1558. Newcourt ii. Johanni Fowlyn, et Willelmo Caless 

356; Wood's Ath. Oxon. i. 214 ed. 1721. presbyteri, tecum ibidem praesentibus, 

■f White's examination is publifhed for distribueret.' This, however, he denied, 

the first time in the Fasciculi, pp. 421 Fasciculi, 423. It was common to dis- 

— 4325 Fox iii. 586, 591. White was tinguish the parochial clergy by the title 

also charged * quod die sancto Paschae of "sir" in these times, 
ultimo praeterito, in quodam tua camera 



Steeple Bumsted^ St. Osyih^ Boxted^ JVitham^ Colchester. 3 

of WyclifFe's,' Vicar of Manurden, was convicted of heresy in 
a Convocation held at London, March 2nd. His gravest offence 
was affirming that c the consecrated host is true bread in its own 
nature, and the body of Christ only in a figure.' Bagley was 
degraded from the priefthood, and shortly afterwards he was 
burnt at Smithfield.* In 1440, c a certain Richard Wiche, 
priest of Hermetsworth, in Essex, who had before been con- 
victed of heresy and abjured, was found guilty of a relapse, and 
being degraded from his prieftly dignity, was burnt as an in- 
corrigible heretic on Tower Hill .... many men and women 
went by night to the place where he was murther'd .... kissing 
the ground where he suffered, and carrying away the afhes of 
his body as a sacred relique.'f Not long after this there was 
a man of Bumftead burnt for heresy. In 1505, George 
Laund, prior of St. Osyth's, William Man, of Boxted, William 
Sweeting and James Brewfter, of Colchefter, were abjured. J 
In 1509, several persons were apprehended in various parts 
of the county on the charge of holding heretical opinions. Fox 
mentions the names of Chriffopher and Dionyse Ravins, of 
Witham, and Thomas and John Goodred, of Colchefter. || 
About the same time one Henry Grigge, of Colchefter, was 
in the cuftody of the Bifhop of Norwich, it would seem, for 
heresy ; he, however, obtained the King's pardon in March, 
I5ii.§ On the 18th of October, 151 1, Sweeting and 
Brewfter, both of whom had been abjured two years pre- 
vioufly, were burnt together in Smithfield.^T 

c William Sweeting,- otherwise named Clerke, first dwelt 
with the Lady Percy at Darlington, in the county of North- 
ampton, for a certain space, and from thence went to Boxted, 

* Newcourt ii. 403. Bagley's succes- J Fox iv. 206. 

sor was admitted 1 8th Dec. 143 1. Bagley || Fox iv. 74, et seq. Christopher 

was probably one of the ' monks of Kings Ravins; Strype Eccl. Mem. i. 114. 

Hatfield.' Fox is miftaken in saying § MSS. State Paper Office. Domestic 

that he was of ' Monenden (Mundon),' series, Henry VIII. , 1570. Grigge is 

near Maldon. described as ' clericus attinctus.' The 

-f- Comp. Hist, of Eng. i. 385; Fox pardon is dated Greenwich, 1 6th March, 

Hi. 72, there is a full account of Wyche's 2 Hen. 

abjuration in the Fasciculi, 501 — 505. 9\ Fox iv. 180, supra p. 5. 

B 2 



4 St. Osyth, Colchester. 

in this county, where he was holy-water clerk the space of 
seven years ; after that he was bailiff and farmer to Airs. 
Margery Wood the term of thirteen years. From Boxted he 
departed, and came to the town of St. Osyth, where he served 
the prior of St. Osyth's, named George Laund, the space of 
sixteen years and more, where he so turned the prior by his 
persuafions that he was afterwards compelled to abjure. This 
William Sweeting coming up to London with the aforesaid 
prior for suspicion of heresy, was committed to the Lollards' 
Tower under the cuftody of Charles Joseph, and there, being 
abjured in the church of St. Paul, was constrained to bear a 
faggot at St. Paul's Cross and at Colchefter ; and afterwards to 
wear a faggot upon his coat all his life, which he did two years 
together, upon his left sleeve ; till at length the parson of Col- 
chefter required him to help him in the service of the church, 
and so removed the badge from his sleeve ; and there he remained 
two years. From thence he afterwards departed, and travelling 
abroad came to Rederiffe, in the diocese of Winchester, where 
he was holy-water clerk for the space of a year. Then he 
went to Chelsea, where he was their neatherd, and kept the 
town beasts ; in which town upon St. Ann's day (July 26), as 
he went forth with his beasts to the field, the good man was 
apprehended and brought before the bishop.* 



* < Before the Reformation, there were Col., 126 ; Newcourt ii. 169. Sweeting 
one or more clerks in parish churches, had also been keeper of the town beasts at 
who were affistants to the rector or vicar, Colchefter. Foxiv. 216. Laund was not 
and had for their maintenance, besides the the only fruit of Sweeting's labours at St. 
profits of the place, and teaching school, Osyth ; William Barlow, afterwards so well 
the office of Aquaebajuli, to carry the holy known as 'a zealous professor of the re- 
water.' Stephens, Common Prayer, Ecc. formed religion,' was then a canon there. 
Hist. Soc. 1 6 14. Margery Wood was the In 1515, Barlow became prior of Little 
relict of « Sir John Wode,' who died in Leighs, where he remained until 15245 
September, 1484. She held the manor of after that he was made prior of Bylham, 
Rivers Hall, at Boxted, till her decease, near Maidenhead, Berks. On the disso- 
Nov. 20, 1526. Morantii. 241. Laund, lution of the monafteries, Barlow readily 
sup. 5. The parson of Colchefter was the resigned his priory, and « prevailed with 
Rector of St. Mary Magdalen ; probably many abbots and priors to do the like.' 
John Wayn, who was at the same time About that time he was elected to the 
Rector of St. James. Morant, Hist, of episcopal see of St. Asaph. In 1536 he 



Castle Hedingham, Maplestead, Colchester. 5 

James Brewster was a carpenter of the parish of St. Nicholas, 
Colchefter. After his abjuration, in 1505, 'he had also worn 
a faggot on his sleeve, near the space of two years, till the 
comptroller of the Earl of Oxford plucked it away, because he 
was labouring on the works of the Earl.' He was apprehended 
in one Walker's house, and taken before Fitz-James, by whom 
he was condemned on the same day, with his friend and fellow- 
sufFerer, William Sweeting.* 

In 1525, the cause of Evangelical Nonconformity in England 
received a new impulse from the publication of William Tyn- 
dale's recently completed translation of the New Testament, f 
As fast as the precious volume issued from the presses on the 
continent, it found its way to England, chiefly through the 
eastern ports ; among others, that of the Hythe at Colchefter. 
On the 20th of October, 1526, Tunstal (then Bishop of 
London) issued a prohibition to the Archdeacons of London, 
Middlesex, Essex, and Colchefter, charging them to warn c all 
and singular .... dwelling within their archdeaconries, that 



was tranflated to the see of St. David's, John's Abbey, in 15 13, when he died, 
and in 1547 to that of Bath and Wells. Richard Fitz-James was the then Bishop 
On the acceflion of Mary he was deprived of London. He had been translated to 
and committed to the Fleet; he escaped, London from Chichefter in 1506, and died 
however, and fled to Germany; and on January 15, 1521 — 2. Newcourt i. 24. 
the acceffion of Elizabeth he returned, f Towards the close of the century, a 
and became Bifliop of Chichefter in descendant oftheNorthamptonfhire branch 
1559. Barlow died in 1568. Wood's of the Tyndale family settled at Great 
Ath. Ox. i. 155, ed. 1721 ; Newcourt Maplestead in this county — Sir John Tyn- 
ii. 386, sup. 29. dale, Knt., a Master in Chancery. He 
* The Earl of Oxford was John, Lord married Anne, daughter of Thomas 
High Chamberlain of England. He died Egerton, Esq., and widow of Mr. Deane, 
10th March, 15 12. The Earls of Ox- of Maplestead, and had three sons and two 
ford were seated at Castle Hedingham. daughters. Sir John Tyndale was mur- 
Morant ii. 293. In the S. P. O. Dom., dered by John Bertram in 161 6, and (was) 
series Henry VIII. p. 34, there is a patent succeeded by his eldest son, Deane Tyn- 
confirming the grant of the caftle and dale, Esq., born in 1586. Deane Tyndale 
town of Colchefter, made to John, Earl married Amye, daughter and heir of Ro- 
of Oxford, and his heirs by the Empress bert Weston, Esq., of Prested Hall, Essex. 
Matilda, 16th May, 1509; and, in the He died in 1678. Burke's Landed Gen- 
same series (4101), there is an inventory try ii. 1447, ed. 1846; Anderson's Annals 
of certain property of the Earl's, at St. of the English Bible i. 18. 



6 Colchester. 

within thirty days' space they do bring in, and really deliver 
unto the vicar-general, all and singular such books as contain 
the translation of the New Testament in the English tor. rue j 
and that they should certify him, or his said commissarv, within 
two months, what they had done in the premises, on pain of 
contempt.'* And, on the 3rd of November following, a 
mandate in nearly the same terms was given out bv Warham, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, to search his entire province, f 

Strype has given us a fall account of the proceedings 
that now ensued, prefacing his narrative in these terms: — 
1 Heresv, as it was then called, had already spread consi- 
derablv in this diocese of London, and especially about Col- 
chefler and other parts of Essex. The N ew Testament in 
English, translated by Hotchvn (that is Tindal), was in many 
hands, and read with great application and joy; the doctrines 
of the corporal presence, of worshipping images, and going on 
pilgrimages, would not go down, and thev had secret mee:;::rs 
wherein they instructed one another out of God's Word.' 
By the commencement of the year 1527, seventeen' persons 
had been apprehended in this countv — Abraham Water, ] ::. 
Pykas, Dorothy Long, Marion Westdon 'wife to Thomas 

*Foxiv. 666 — 667. Cuthbert Tunstal also Chaplain :: Henry VIII.. and bad 

was the successor of Fitz -James in the see but recently returned from the court of 

of London. He was translated to Durham Ferdinand, Archduke of Anstri ■ . bitb : - 

in 1530. Newcourt i. 25 5 Cooper A th. he had been sent in 1523 upon an embassy 

Cantab, i. 198 — 552. The Archdeacon to encourage the Archduke in bis zeal 

of London was Jeffrey Wharton, who against 'those detestable and damnable 

was also Tunstal's vicar-general, and died heresies of Fxiat Martin Luther.' In 

in 1529. Newcourt i. 62; C::re: Ath. 152.9 he became C-;ncellor of Sal.:: . .- . 

Cantab, i. 59 — 528. The Archdeacon of and in 1531 he was promoted to the 

Middlesex was Richard Eden, who had Archiepiscopal see of York. He was a 

been vicar of Geftingthorpe, 15 14 — great supporter of the Six Articles in the 

1516. He died in 1551. Newcourt i. Parliament of 1539. Lee died in 1544- 

Si ; Cooper Ath. Cant. i. 104. The Newcourt i. 91 ; Strype, Eccl. Mem. i. 

Archdeacon of Essex was Richard Raw- 64 — 65; Mem. of Cr:: ::_ -;:; 

son. He died in 1543. Newcourt i. 72. Wood Ath. Ox. i. 60. 
Rawson was also Canon of Windsor. f Anderson's Annals of the English 

Wood Ath. Ox. L 106. The Archdeacon Bible i. 119. Warham's manage is 

of Colchefter was Edward Lee, who was printed in Wilkins' Concilia iii. 706. 



Witham, Braintree, Doniland, Boxted, Horksley. y 

Matthew/ William Raylond, and Robert Best, all of Col- 
chefter; Christopher Ravins, Thomas Hills, John Chapman, 
and Richard Chapman, of Witham ; William, Anthony, 
Robert, and 'Mother' Beckwyth, of 'Branktree;' Thomas 
Vincent and his daughter, the wife of Thomas Anstie; and 
John Hacker, otherwise called John Ebbe, who had been 
abjured previously, and who is described as c a great reader and 
teacher about six years past in London, and now in the parts 
of Essex about Colchefler, Witham, and Branktree.' * 

On the second of March, there appeared before the Vicar- 
General, befidesjohn Pykas, Thomas Matthew, the hufband of 
Marion Weftdon, and Henry the brother of William Raylond, 
both of whom were of Colchefter. Before the end of the 
month, discovery had been made of twenty-three other persons; 
John Bowghton, Maryon, daughter of the wife of Thomas 
Matthew, John Tompson and his wife, Dorothy Lane, 
Katharine Swayn, John Gyrling and his wife, John Bradley 
and his wife, Thomas Parker, ' Mistress Cowbridge, wydow,' 
Alice Gardener, Robert Bifhop, 'Mother' Denby, Thomas 
Bowgas and Margaret his wife, the wife of William Raylond, 
and John Clark, all of Colchefler ; John Hubbert and Robert 
Bate, of East c Doninland;' Richard Collins, alias Johnson, 
of 'Boxftede;' and John Wyley, of Horkfley.f And by 
the end of the year, the number of those who suffered more or 
less from these proceedings, was still further augmented by the 
apprehenfion of John Tibauld, who was a ' notable leader of 



* Water. Strype, Ecc. Mem. ii. 1145 She appears to have been a widow j if 

Pykas, ib. 115 — 133; Long, ib. 116 — • so, her hufband was poffibly John 

121; Mathew, ib. 116 — 121; Raylond, Swayn, who was bailiff of Colchefter 

ib. 117 — 1335 Best, ib. 117 — 126; Ra- in 1498, 1500, 1502, 1506, 1507, 

vens, sup. p. 3; Hill, Strype E. M. ii. 1 5 1 1, and 1 51 3. Moranfs MSS. Lift 

114; Chapman, ib. 115; Beckwyth, ib. of the Bailiffs and Mayors in the Col- 

117; Vincent, ib. 115 5 Hacker, ib. chefter Museum. Gyrling, E. M. i. 121, 

114 — 133. — 126, 130 — 1325 Bradley, ib. 121 — 

-j- Matthew, Strype, E. M. ii. 120, 125; Parker, ib. 121 — 132. The Parker 

121; Bowghton, Strype, E. M. i. 119} family 'was of ancient standing in the 

Thompson, ib., 121 — 132; Lane, supra City of Norwich, and this Thomas was 

p. 6; Swayn, Strype, E. M. ii. 121. not unlikely to be brother to William, 



8 Steeple Bumpsted^ Ridgwell^ Halsted. 

these known men/ Edmund Tibauld, William Bocher, Robert 
Necton, and Robert and Thomas Hempflead, at Steeple 
Bumftead ; John Smith and Agnes his wife, at c Rideswell;' 
and Robert Faire, Isabel Holden, and John Wiggen, who 
appear to have been refident at Bumftead.* Among others 
who were active in the apprehenfion and examination of these 
sufferers, were JohnTunftal, a relative of the Bifhop, who had 
been collated to the vicarage of Boreham in 1525, and to the 
rectory of Laingdon-cum-Bafildon in 1527, and had juft 
refigned both livings for the prebend of Mora in the Cathedral 
of St. Paul's ; f Thomas Barton, then and for five years after- 
wards, Abbot of St. John's, Colchefter ; Michael Everard, of 
Colchester ; Thomas Cure who became Rector of Radwinter 
in Jan. 1527, and continued there until his death in 1548; J 
John Golding, of St. Paul's Belchamp Hall, one of the Audi- 
tors of the Exchequer ; || and Thomas Turner, who was pro- 
bably one of the Turners of Haverhill. § 

In 1530, William Worfley, c prieft and hermit, was ab- 
jured for preaching at Halftead, having the curate's license but 
not the bifhop's,' and for saying, c that no man riding on pil- 
grimages having under him a soft saddle, and an easy horse, 
should have any merit thereby, but the horse and saddle,' and 
that c hearing of matins and mass is not the thing that shall 
save a man's soul, but only to hear the word of God.' fl In 

the father of Mathew Parker,' who was Raylond, supra j Clark, E. M. ib. i. 

afterwards Archbp. of Canterbury. Strype, 132; Hubbert, ib. i. 122 — 125; Bate, 

Parker i. 5 — 16. Cowbridge was the ib. i. 122; Collins, ib. ; Wyley, ib. 

widow of < Robert Cowbregge,' who was * John Tybauld, Strype, E. M. i. 1 3 1 

twice bailiff of Colchefter, in 1501 and — ii. 505 Edward Tybauld, ib. i. 133; 

1507. Morant's MSS. Widow Cowbridge Bocher, ib. 132 — ii. 59; Nedton, ib. 

was related to Sir Thomas, afterwards 134, see also ii. 63; Hempftead, ib. i. 

Lord Audley, of Walden. Fox v. 251— 132, 134 — ii. 60, 61 ; Smiths, ib. i. 133; 

253. Lord Audley was a native of Earls Faire, Holden, and Wiggins, ib. 133. 

Colne. Morant ii. 548. Biographical f Newcourt i. 180. 

Diet. S. D. U. K., sub. nom. ; Gardiner, J Newcourt ii. 478. 

Strype, E. M. i. 1255 Bifhop, ib. 127; || Morant ii. 228. 

John Bishop was bailiff of Colchester § Morant ii. 568. 

1475, 1478, 1482. Mor. MSS. ; Denby, ^[ Fox v. 33. 
ib. 129; Bowgas, ib. 121, 131 : ii. 56} 



St. Osythj Colchester, Blrdhrook. 9 

1531, Grace Palmer, of St. Osythe's,' was abjured for saying, 
among other things, c that the sacrament is but bread which 
the prieft there showeth for a token or remembrance of Chrift's 
body.' In the same year John Fairftede, of Colchefter, was 
also in trouble ' for words spoken againft images,' and 
for saying c that the day should come that men should 
say, cursed be they that make these false Gods, meaning 
images.'* And in the month of November, 1531, Richard 
Bayfield, who, while he was a monk at Bury St. Edmunds, 
had been converted under the teaching of Dr. Barnes, was 
burnt at Smithfield.f Shortly after his converfion, Bayfield 
fled c beyond sea,' where he c mightily prospered in the word 
of God, and was beneficial to Matter Tyndale and Matter 
Frith ; for he brought subftance with him, and was their own 
hand, and sold all their works, and the works of the Germans, 
both in France and in England,' and among other parts of 
England here in Essex. One of the agents whom Bayfield 
employed in the circulation of these books, was c a boy of 
Colchefter.' This boy was taken shortly after the apprehen- 
fion of his employer, for having c brought to Richard Bayfield 
a budget of books about four days before the said Bayfield was 
taken, for which he was . . . laid in the compter by 
Matter More, Chancellor, and there died.' % 

Shortly afterwards forty persons were apprehended at Bum- 
ftead, and forty-one others ' in the town of Byrbrooke.' The 
names of those who were apprehended at Bumftead, were ' Sir 
Richard Fox, the curate;' John Tibauld, his mother, his 
wife, his two sons, and his two daughters ; Edmund Tibauld 
and his wife, Robert Hempftead and his wife, Thomas Hemp- 
ftead and his wife, and John Hempftead their son ; Isabel 
Holden, John Wiggen, Joan Smith, and her sons John, 
Thomas, and Chriftopher, and her daughters Joan and Alice; 



* Fox v. 34. % The Chancellor was Sir Thomas 

f Fox iv. 681. More. Wood Ath. Ox. i. 37; Fox v. 38. 



10 East Doniland, Boxted, Colchester, Billericay. 

Arthur and Geoffrey Loane, Henry Butcher and his wife, 
George Prefton and his wife, another Joan Smith, widow, 
together with her sons Robert and Richard, and her daughters 
Margaret and Elizabeth ; Robert Faire, William Chatwals, 
Alice Shipwright, Henry Brown, and John Craneford. Several 
of these were also old offenders.* They were all brought up to 
the Bifhop of London, and all put together in one house to be 
examined and abjured, f The names of those who were appre- 
hended at Birdbrooke, were Isabel Choote, widow, her sons 
John, William, Chriftopher, and Robert, her daughter Mar- 
garet, and Katharine her maid; Thomas Choote and his wife, 
Harvie and his wife, his son Thomas, and Agnes his daughter ; 
Bateman and his wife, John Smith and his wife, Thomas 
Butcher and his wife, Robert Catlin, Chriftmas and his wife, 
William Beckwith, his wife and two sons, John Pikas and his 
wife, William the brother of John Pikas, Girling and his 
wife and daughter, Johnson, his wife and his son ; c Matthew's 
wife,' Thomas Hills, Roger Tanner, Chriftopher Raven and 
his wife, and John and Richard Chapman his servants. J 
Befides these there were also apprehended in other parts of the 
county, Philip Brasier and John Mel, of Boxted; Henry 
and William Raylond, Thomas Parker, Katharine Swayn, 
'Widow' Denby, Robert Hedil, Alice Gardiner, John 
Tomson, Abraham Water, Margaret Bowgas, Mark Cow- 
bridge, John Bradley and his wife, all of Colcheft er ; John 
Hubbert, of Earl Doniland; and John Tyrel an Irifhman, of 
Billericay. || 



* Fox v. 41. The Vicarage cf Steeple who was consecrated as Tunftal's suc- 

Bumftead being in the priory, or rather as cessor Nov. 27, 1530. He boafted, 'as 

it was then, the College of Stoke and Holinfhed tells us, that he had burned 

Clare, it is not unlikely that Fox be- fifty heretics, and as Dr. Humphrey saith, 

longed to that community. Strype, he sacrificed to the God of Hell above 

Parker i. 15. For the old offenders. — three hundred.' Wood's Ath. Ox. i. 763 ; 

Supra 7. Myles Coverdale was afTociated Fafti i. 6, 42. 

with Fox in preaching here. Anderson J Fox v. 41. Several of these were 

Ann. i. 176, 185. Cooper Ath. Cant. i. also old offenders. Supra 7. 
268. || Fox v. 32, 41. Some of these are 

■f The Bifhop was John Stokefley, also mentioned p. 7. 



Colchester , Rowshedge, Dedham, Dovercourt. 1 1 

A short time previously to these wholesale apprehenfions, 
one Edward Freese had been taken in Colchefter. He was 
a Yorkfhireman, by trade a painter, and had fled from per- 
secution into EfTex. c After he had been in Colchefter for 
a good time, he was hired to paint certain cloths for the new 
Inn, which is in the middle of the Market-place, and in the 
upper part of the cloths he wrote certain sentences of the 
Scriptures ; and by that he was plainly known to be one of 
them that they call heretics.* Freese was brought to London 
with certain others of EfTex, one Johnson and his wife, Wylie 
and his wife and son, and Father Bate, of Rowfhedge. After the 
painter had been there a long space, by much suit he was 
removed to Lollard's Tower. His wife, in the time of the 
suit, while he was yet at Fulham, being defirous to see her 
hufband, and preffing to come in at the gate, being then great 
with child, the porter lifted up his foot and struck her on the 
body, that at length she died of the same, but the child was 
deftroyed immediately . . . After the death of his wife, 
his brother sued to the king for him, and after a long suit he was 
brought out into the confiftory of St. Paul's. . . . Then, 
what by the long imprisonment and much evil handling, and 
for lack of suftenance, the man was in that case that he could 
say nothing but look and gaze upon the people like a wild man. 
And thus, when they had spoiled his body and de- 
ftroyed his wits, they sent him back again to Bearsy Abbey; 
but he came away from thence, albeit, he never came to his 
perfect mind to his dying day.'f 

In 1532, Robert King and Nicholas Marfh, of Dedham, were 
hanged : King, at Burchets, in his native parish ; and Marfh, 
at Dovercourt, for having, together with Robert Debnam, of 
Eaft Bergholt, and Robert Gardiner, of Dedham, deftroyed the 
rood at Dovercourt. Gardiner escaped, as also did Debnam 
for the present. Thomas Rose, then curate it should appear 

* The Inn was in every likelihood from Bearsy Abbey, near York, that 

the Lion which is still standing in the Freese originally fled. Johnson 10. 

High Street. Wylie 7. 

f Fox iv. 694, 705, 706. It was 



12 



Coggeshall) Dedht 



to Dr. Taylor of Hadleigh, was also implicated in this deed, 
and suffered imprisonment for it.* 



* Fox iv. 786, see also infra. £ The 
same year and the year before, there were 
many images cart down and deftroyed in 
many places ; as the image of the crucifix 
in the highway by Coggefhall ; the image 
of St. Petronal, in the church of Great 
Horkfieigh ; the image of St. Chriftopher 
by Sudbury, and another image of St. 
Petronal in a chapel of Ipswich. Also 



one John Seward, of Dedham, overthrew 
a cross in Stoke Park, and took two 
images out of a chapel there, and threw 
them into the water.' Fox iv. 707 5 
Rose, p. 50. 'St. Petronal, May 31. 
Her name is the feminine of St. Peter, 
and she is said to have been his daughter.' 
Butler's Lives of the Saints v. 482. 



CHAPTER II. 

i53 2 — J 553- 

WHEN Henry VIII. came to the throne he was even 
violent in his attachment to the papacy. He so conti- 
nued for several years after his accession. But now a change came 
over the c spirit of the monarch's dream,' and it was destined 
materially to affect the future struggles of Nonconformity. 
About six weeks after his father's death, he had married 
Katharine, the widow of his elder brother Arthur, who died 
without issue in 1502, being influenced by the representations 
of his Council, 'that the same reasons which made his wise 
father chuse to match with Spain .... were in force still,' 
and having obtained a license from the Pope for that purpose.* 
For some time the validity of his marriage was at least tacitly 
acknowledged. At length, however, it was formally called in 
question, both by the court of France and by the court of 
Spain, f The matter soon assumed a serious aspect, and in 
1528 Henry set himself to procure a divorce, but the Pope 
hesitating to comply with his request, the King was in great 
perplexity, not knowing what to do. Just at this juncture, 
'about the month of August,' 1529, Thomas Cranmer — then 
already distinguished as a theologian and a canonist in the 
University of Cambridge — happening to be on a visit at the 
house of c one Mr. Cressie, situate in Waltham Abbey parish in 
Essex,' there met with Fox and Gardiner, the one the King's 

* Lord Herbert, Life and Reign of chancel of Layer Marney Church in 1523. 

Henry VIII. ; Comp. Hist, of Eng. ii. 3. Morant i. 406; and also Sir Thomas, 

Among these councillors were Sir Henry, afterwards Lord Darcy, of Chiche, St. 

afterwards (April 9, 1522) Lord Marney, Osyth. Lloyd'sState Worthies, ed. 1776, i. 

of Layer Marney, who was buried in the -f- Lord Herbert, 98. 



14 Bore ham. 

Almoner the other his Secretary ;* and they ' in design falling 
upon discourse of that matter,' Cranmer 'gave his own sense 
of the cause in words to this effect, C I do think that you go 
not the next way to work to bring the matter unto a perfect 
conclusion and end, especially for the satisfaction of the troubled 
conscience of the King's Highness.' The result of this 
conversation was, that Cranmer was sent for by the King, who 
'retained him and committed him unto the family of the Earl 
of Wiltfhire and Osmond,' whose country residence was at 
Newhall, in the parish of Boreham.f 'While Cranmer abode 
there a great friendfhip was contracted between him and that 
noble family, especially the chief members of it, the Countess, 
the Lady Ann, and the Earl himself; ' J and, under Cranmer's 
direction, such steps were shortly taken as brought the question 
of the divorce to a decisive issue. In August, 1532, William 
Warham, the Archbishop of Canterbury died, and Cranmer 
was consecrated his successor. In May, 1533, Cranmer pro- 
nounced sentence of divorce upon Katharine. || And in the 
same year an Act of Parliament was past, entitled ' An Act 
concerning the King's Succeffion,' which enacted — 'That the 
marriage heretofore solemnized between the King's Highness 
and the Lady Katharine .... shall be ... . defini- 
tively, clearly, and absolutely declared .... to be 
against the laws of Almighty God; and also accepted, 

as of no value nor effect, but utterly 

void and adnihilled ; and the separation thereof made by the 



* Edward Fox, the King's Almoner, prevailing upon the University of Cam- 
was also Provost of King's College at the bridge to sanction the divorce. Wood, 
time, and afterwards became Bishop of ib. Burnet, Hist. Ref. i. 86, ed. 1681 ; 
Hereford. Wood's Ath. Ox. i. 655. Strype, Men. of Archbp. Cranmer i. 5. 
Stephen Gardiner, the King's Secretary, "f" This was Sir Thomas Bullen, the 
was afterwards Bishop of Winchester. father of Anne. He was created Earl of 
Both of them had only just returned Rochford June 18th, 1525, and Earl of 
from Rome, whither they had been sent Wiltshire and Osmond 8th December, 
by the King to treat with the Pope upon 152-9. Morant ii. 14. 
this very subject. Strype, Ecc. M. i. 136. % Strype, Cranmer i. 6, 7. 
In the course of the next year, Fox and || Strype, Cranmer i. 29. 
Gardiner were the main instruments in 



Ashdon. 15 

Archbishop shall be good and effectual to ail intents and 
purposes.' * 

So decisive a measure, of course, involved a repudiation of the 
papacy, which was accordingly accomplifhed the next year 
following by the palling of an Act entitled ' The King's Grace 
to be authorized Supreme Head.' This Act provided that — 
' Albeit the King's Majefty is the Supreme Head of the 
Church of England, and so is recognized by the clergy of this 
realm in their convocations, yet, nevertheless, for corroboration 
thereof, .... be it enacted .... that the King, .... 
his heirs and successors .... shall be the only Supreme Head 
on earth of the Church of England \ . . . . and shall have 
.... as well the title and stile thereof, as all Honors 
.... to the said dignity .... belonging, and .... shall 
have full power from time to time to visit .... all such errors 
.... which by any manner Spiritual Authority .... may 
lawfully be reformed .... most to the pleasure of Almighty 
God, the increase of Virtue in Christ's religion, and for the 
conservation of the peace, unity, and tranquillity of this realm; 
.... any thing or things to the contrary hereof notwith- 
standing.' By this Act Evangelical Nonconformity, which 
hitherto had been but an ecclesiaftical offence, henceforward 
also became a civil crime. 

'About St. Paul's day' (25th of Jan.), 1533, rather more than 
three months before his formal divorce from Katherine, Henry 
married Anne Bullen. The marriage took place in private, and 
it should appear that the ceremony was performed by Dr. 
Rowland Lee, who was then Rector of Afhdon, in this county, 
one of the King's chaplains, also Vicar of St. Sepulchre's 
in the City of London, and who was afterwards (Ap. 1534) 
consecrated Bifhop of Lichfield, f While this marriage was 

* 25 Henry VIII. c. 22 ; 26 Hen. c. i. dix. Lord Herbert, p. 161. For Lee 

f ' It hath been reported throughout see Newcourt ii. 16, i. 533 ; Wood, 

a great part of the realm that I married Fasti, i. 38. Lee was succeeded at Ash- 

her ; which was plainly false, for I myself don by George his brother, who had been 

knew not thereof a fortnight after it was Rector of South Shoebury, 1526, and 

done.' Abp. Cranmer's works, Parker Rector of Woodford, 1529. Newcourt 

Society, ii., letter xiv. p. 226, and appen- ii. 130, 680 ; Cooper, Ath. Cant. i. 324. 



1 6 PrittlewelL 

being celebrated, John Frith, the friend of William Tyndale, 
was lying a prisoner in the Tower of London. He had been 
apprehended the preceding year on ' Milton shore,' in the 
parish of Prittlewell, whither he had fled in the vain hope of 
escaping to the Continent.* He was burnt at Smithfield on 
the 4th of July, 1533 : c When he was tied unto the stake, 
then it sufficiently appeared with what conftancy and courage 
he suffered death ; for when the faggots and fire were put unto 
him he willingly embraced the same ; thereby declaring with 
what uprightness of mind he suffered his death for Chrift's 
sake.' f 

So long as Anne retained her influence over him, Henry's 
supremacy was in the main so exercised as greatly to 
encourage the hopes of the c gospellers.' The sufferings they 
had hitherto endured were suspended. c During her lifetime 
as Queen,' says Fox, c we read of no great persecution, 
nor any abjurations to have been made in the Church of 
England, save only that the regifters of London make mention 
of certain Dutchmen convented for Anabaptiffs, of whom ten 
were put to death in sundry places of the realm in 1535, and 
other ten repented and were saved.' J 

In a few months after the passing of the Act of Supremacy, 
Convocation petitioned the King c that he would vouchsafe to 
decree that the Scriptures should be translated into the vulgar 
tongue by some honest and learned men to be nominated by him, 
and that they should be delivered unto the people according to 
their learning ; ' and it is probable that measures were taken for 
complying with their request. || In 1536 there was issued a book 
of Articles, of which it is but just to say, with Strype, — ' We 

* Anderson's Annals of the Eng. Bible, son and other fanatics in Germany and 

i. 343. 'Milton is said to have been Holland; men whose recent doings, and 

anciently a diftinct parish, and had a especially in the city of Munfter, had not 

church or chapel of ease, of which the only outraged all religion, but also all 

remains were visible not long ago (1768) humanity. Ranke's Hist, of the Ref. Hi. 

at low water mark.' Morant i. 296. 558, ed. 1847; Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. 

f Fox v. 15. III. 58, ed. New York, 1839. 

% Followers of such men as Thomas )| Strype's Cranmer i. 34. 

Munzer, Jan Matthys, Jan Bockel- 



Saffron Walden, Littlehury^ Bulvan, Laingdon. IJ 

find, indeed, many popish errors here mixed with Evangelical 
truths .... let not any be offended herewith, but let him 
rather take notice what a great deal of Gospel doctrine here 
came to light ; and not only so, but was owned and propounded 
by authority to be believed and practised.'* On the 19th of 
May in this year the ill-fated Anne was beheaded on Tower 
Hill, and the next day afterwards, Henry was married to Jane 
Seymour. Before the close of the year, the old persecuting 
spirit had again broken out, and among others that were now in 
trouble was William Barlow, Bifhop of St. David's, who 'was 
charged with four articles of false doctrine, preached by him in 
a sermon at St. David's,' which were, c That two or three 
meeting together in God's name, though they were weavers 
and cobblers, was the true Church of God ; that it is expedient 
to confess only to God ; that there was no purgatory ; . . . . 
and that a learned layman might be as good a bifhop as any of 
them, if he was called thereunto by the King.'f 

In 1537 appeared the c Bifhop's book,' entitled, c The 
Godly and Pious Institution of a Christian Man.' Among 
others who affisted Cranmer in its preparation, were William 
Barlow, Richard Wolleman, Vicar of Saffron Walden ; John 
Skypp, Vicar of Thaxted ; William May, Rector of Little- 
bury ; John Baker, probably the Rector of Bulvan of that 
name and date ; and Thomas Barrett, the successor of John 
Tunftal in the Rectory of Laingdon-cum-Basildon. J In 
the same year a complete tranflation of the Scriptures into 
English was issued by authority ; and in 1538 it was 'divulged 
and exposed to common sale, and appointed to be had in 
every church.' The King also publifhed a declaration, which 
was commanded to be 'read by all curates' in their several 
churches, permitting and enjoining the public use of it. || As 

* Strype, Cranmer i. 63. man Cooper, Ath. Cant. i. 63, 531 ; 

f Strype, Ecc. Mem. i. 443 ; Burnet, Strype, ib. i. 109; May, ib. i. 207, 553. 
Ref. i. 305; Fuller, Church Hist. ii. 79, || Strype, Cranmer i. 905 Ap. 

1842 ; Barlow, ante p. 6. 
I Strype, Cranmer i. 77 ; Newcourl 
:6ij ii. 582, 384, 107, 356} Wool- 



XXUl. 



ed. 1842 ; Barlow, ante p. 6. See also Fox v. 165. The date of these 

% Strype, Cranmer i. 77 ; Newcourt injunctions is evidently wrong. 



1 8 Chelmsford^ Colchester. 

an example of the way in which this decifive measure was 
received, Strype relates an incident which occurred at Chelms- 
ford. It refers to c one William Maiden, who was then but 
fifteen years of age.' 

'When the King had allowed the Bible to be set forth in the 
churches, immediately several poor men in the town .... 
bought the New Testament, and on Sundays sat reading of it 
in the lower end of the church ; many would flock about them 
to hear their reading, and William Maiden among the rest. 

But his father observing it, angrily fetched him away 

This put him upon the thoughts of learning to read, .... 
which, when he had by diligence effected, he and his father's 
apprentice bought the New Testament, joining their stocks 
together ; and, to conceal it, laid it under the bed straw. One 
night, his father being asleep, he and his mother chanced to 
discourse concerning the crucifix, and to be kneeling down to it 
.... this he told his mother was plain idolatry, and against 
the commandment of God .... 'thou shalt not make any 
graven image, nor bow down to it, nor worship it.' ... . 
The sum of this evening's conference she presently repeats to 
her husband, which he, impatient to hear, and boiling in fury 
against his son, goes into his chamber, and .... taking him 
by the hair of his head with his hands, pulled him out of his 
bed and whipped him most unmercifully. And when the young 
man bore this beating .... with a kind of joy, considering 
it was for Christ's sake .... his father seeing that, was more 
enraged, and ran down and fetched an halter, and put it about 
his neck, saying he would hang him. At length, with much 
entreaty of the mother and brother, he left him almost dead.' * 

Shortly after this, one William Cowbridge, the son, it 
should appear, of Widow Cowbridge, and a relative of Mark, 
both of whom we heard in 153 1, was burnt at Oxford. 
' This good man coming of good stock and family, whose 
ancestors even from Wiklif's time had been always favorers of 
the Gospel .... was born at Colchefter, his father's name 

* Strype, Cran. i. 91, 92. See more of this William Maiden, Fox viii. 638. 



The Six Articles. 19 

being William Cowbridge, a wealthy man, head bailiff of 
Colchefter, and of great estimation. His father, at his 
decease, left him great substance, which he afterwards 
distributing to his sifters and kindred, went about the 
countries teaching and preaching Chrift. He was appre- 
hended at Wantage, in Berkfhire, carried to the Bifhop of 
Lincoln, and by him was sent to Oxford, and there cast 
into the prison called c Bocardo.'' The then Lord Chan- 
cellor, notwithstanding that he was a relative of William 
Cowbridge, was prevailed upon to grant a writ for the young 
man's execution, and Cowbridge was accordingly put to death.* 
c When the day appointed was come, this meek lamb of 
Christ was brought forth unto the slaughter with a great band 
of armed men ; and, being made fast in the midst of the fire, 
.... oftentimes calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, with great meekness and quietness he yielded his spirit 
into the hands of the Lord.' f 

Henry now began to retrace his steps. On the 28th of April, 
1540, a new Parliament was convened at Westminster; and on 
the 5th of May, the Lord Chanceller informed the House of 
Lords c that it was His Majefty's desire above all things that 
the diversities of opinion concerning the Chriftian religion in 
this kingdom should be with all poffible expedition plucked up 
and extirpated.' In consequence of this a committee was 
appointed to examine into these opinions. As the result of 
their proceedings, a Bill was brought into the House of Lords on 
the 7th of June following, enacting the notorious c Six Articles ; ' 
and, on the 16th of the same month, after considerable opposi- 
tion, the Bill passed both Houses, and shortly received the royal 
assent. { The sufferings which were inflicted by this c whip 
with six strings ' are known to have been extreme. It is 
remarkable, however, that we should possess but few details in 
any of our publifhed histories. Fox, indeed, has given us a 

* The father was Robert not Wil- f Fox v. 251 — 253. 

liam? Cowbridge. See ante p. 8. % Parliamentary Hist. i. 536 — 539. 

C 2 



20 Death of Henry. Geddy Hall. 

few, but none of them relate to Essex. Almost the last blow 
that Henry was permitted to strike at the cause which he had 
long, in fact, abandoned, was the issue of a proclamation for the 
burning of all books printed or written in the English language, 
c in the names of Frith, Tyndal, Wiclifre, Joye, Roye, Becon, 
Bale, Barnes, Coverdale, Turner, Tracy, or by any of them,' 
including Tyndale's and Coverdale's New Testaments. This 
proclamation bears the date of July 16, 1546.* On the 28th 
of January, 1547, King Henry died. c Being asked by 
his attendants, when he had been informed that his end was 
near, 'whether he wisht to confer with any one,' he replied, 
'with no other but the Archbifhop Cranmer, and not 
with him as yet. I will first repose myself a little, and as 
I then find myself will determine accordingly.' Deter- 
mine, however, he did not for nearly two hours, when it was 
of little or no moment who should come. Cranmer was sent 
for in all haste : but he arrived only in time to receive one fixed 
look, when Henry grasped his hand and expired.' f 

Henry was succeeded by his only son Edward VI., who, at 
the date of his acceflion to the throne, was not yet ten years of 
age. ' This young prince was brought up among nurses until 
he arrived to the age of six years, when 4 . . he was committed 
to the care of Dr. Cox, who was afterwards his almoner, and 
Mr. John Cheke. ;j; Cox soon resigning his office, Dr., after- 
wards Sir Antony, Cook, of Geddy Hall, became his succeflbr.|| 
Edward was crowned by Archbifhop Cranmer in Feb. 1547. 
The king being a minor, the affairs of the kingdom were ad- 
miniftered by his Council. At firft the expectations of the 
gospellers were encouraged greatly; all persecution ceased, 
and the reaction which had so unhappily set in before his 



* Anderson's Annals of the English Ely. Cooper, Ath. Cant i. 437 — 445, 

Bible ii. 203. A complete list of the 568. Cheke was afterwards knighted, 

prohibited books is also given by Fox v. and was the anceftor of the Chekes of 

565 — 568. Pyrgo. Strype, Life of Cheke. Cooper, 

f Anderson's Annals ii. 221. Fox Ath. Cant. i. 166 — 170, 549. 
v. 628. || Cooper, Ath. Cant. i. 351—354, 



J Richard Cox, afterwards Bifhop of 563. 



Braintree. 2 1 

father's death, was hopefully reversed. For the provifional 
inftruction of the people, c till the church could be better sup- 
plied with minifters,' * the firft Book of Homilies was 
prepared, of which two editions were publifhed in 1547, with 
a preface from the king, and the advice of the Duke of 
Somerset and the Privy Council enjoining these homilies to be 
read in all churches every Sunday. About the same time there 
was also publifhed c Erasmus' Paraphrase on the Gospels and 
the Acts,' which had recently been tranflated by Nicholas 
Udal or Wodal, not long before Vicar of Braintree. + 
And both were followed by c certain ecclefiaftical laws 
or general injunctions,' which, among other things, required 
of c all ecclefiaftical persons,' that they should c provide 
within three months . . . one book of the whole Bible 
and within one twelvemonth the Paraphrase of 
Erasmus . . . and the same set up in some convenient 
place within the church, where their parifhioners may moft 
commodiously resort unto, and read the same,' and also c that 
if they knew any man . . . that is a letter of the word of 
God to be read in Englim or sincerely preached . . . they 
should detect and present the same to the king or his council, 
or to the juflice of the peace next adjoining.' It was also 
enacted by these c injunctions,' ' that all manner of persons who 
underftand not the Latin tongue, shall pray upon none other 
primer but upon that which was lately set forth in Englim by 
the authority of King Henry the Eighth.' J In 1548, Convo- 
cation having approved a proportion introduced by Archbifhop 
Cranmer, for adminiftering the communion in both kinds, and 
the parliament having sanctioned the change, a commimon 
appointed for that purpose, prepared and iffued an c Order of 
the Communion' in Englifh, in which the very doctrine of 
the sacrament, for maintaining which such numbers had but 
recently been put to death is expressly recognised. || In 1549, 

* Strype, Cranmer i. 210. % Cardvvell's Documentary Annals i. 

f Strype, E. M. ii. 48; Newcourt ii. 122 ; Fox v. 706, 712. 
88; Wood, Ath. Ox. i. 88. || Liturgies of Edw. VI. Parker Soc. 

p. 2—8. 



22 B:;king. 

a new c Common Prayer Book' was authorized by an x\ct c for 
the Uniformity of Service and Administering the Sacrament 
throughout the realm.'* And in 1550, letters were sent by the 
king to the biihops for the ' taking down of altars and setting 
up of the table instead thereof, in some convenient part of the 
chancel .... to serve for the miniftration of the blelTed 
Communion. ; t In the October before the pa-Ting of the 
Act of Uniformity, the Duke of Somerset, who had been 
the great leader of the advanced partv, was committed to 
the Tower ; and though he then escaped, vet on the 22nd 
of January, 1552, he was beheaded on Tower Hill. J Shortly 
after the imprisonment of the Duke of Somerset, persecu- 
tion again broke out againft the gospellers, who were now 
called 'sectaries,' and among other places, here in Eiiex. 
c On January 2", [1550 — ij a number of persons, about sixty, 
met in a house on the Sunday, in the parifh of Bocking, where 
arose among them a great dispute ' whether it were necessary 
to stand or kneel, bareheaded or covered, at prayers ; and they 
concluded the ceremony not to be material, but that the heart 
before God was required, and nothing else.' These persons 
were looked upon as dangerous to Church and State, and orders 
were sent to Sir George Norton, Sheriff of EiTex, to apprehend 
them. |j On February 3rd, those that were apprehended ap- 
peared before the council, and confefled the cause of their 
assembling to be 'for to talk of the Scriptures, and that they 
had refused the Communion for above two years.' Whereupon 
1 five of them were committed, and seven of them were bound 
in recognizances to the king, in £4.0 each man.' 

In the month of June following, information was sent to the 
Council by Lord Rich, then Lord Chancellor, of others 
in this county, who 'came together on other days besides 



* liturgies of Edw. VI. Parker Soc. || Strype, Cranmer L 335. Norton 

P- l6 - was then Sheriff of Effex and Herts. 

f Fox vi. 5. Morant i. viii. He had recently married 

X Fox vi. 282— 296. Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Lord Audley. 

Newcoort ii. 557. 



New Book of Common Prayer. 23 

Sundays and Holydays to hear sermons, who had preachers 
that then preached to them;' c and that,' adds Strype, 'was 
all their fault, for I do not find any false doctrine or sedi- 
tion laid to their charge.' The Council hereupon issued 
a mandate to the Bifhop of London to take measures for the 
suppression of such gatherings, which he did accordingly 
by sending executory -letters, under date June 25th, to the 
Archdeacon of Colchefter, commanding him not only to 
c Warn all curates that they suffer not preaching on work 
days in their churches,' but also ' to send for all preachers 
authorized within the said archdeaconry, charging them in the 
King's name, that from henceforth they do not preach but only 
upon Sundays and Holydays, and none other days, except it be 
at any burial or marriage.' * 

In 155 1, Hooper, Bifhop elect of Gloucefter, was com- 
mitted to prison for scrupling to take the required oath, and to 
wear the authorized vestments; nor was he released until he 
had submitted himself to the pleasure of the Council. In 
1552, however, a decidedly progreffive step was taken by the 
publication of a second Book of Common Prayer. Several 
alterations were now made in the Liturgy, which, though they 
were far from satisfying the more advanced reformers, were yet 
of considerable value. Among others were the following : — 
In the 'Visitation of the Sick,' the anointing, and the direction 
for private confeffions, and reserving portions of the consecrated 
elements, were omitted. In the Burial Service, the prayers for 
the dead, and the office for the Eucharist at funerals, were 
omitted. The rubric concerning vestments ordered that 
neither alb, veftment, nor cope, should be used : a bifhop should 
wear a rochet, a priest or deacon only a surplice. And, 
whereas in the book of 1549, the Communion Service had 

* Strype, E. M. ii. 371. The Lord cellor the November following. Mor. ii. 

Rich was Richard, who had been Soli- 101 ; Coop. Ath. C. i. 253, 256, 555. 

ci tor- General to Henry VIII. On the The then Archdeacon of Colchefter was 

dissolution of the monasteries, he ob- Anthony Belasis. Newcourti. 91 ; Coop, 

tained large estates. He was created Baron, Ath. C. i. 543. The Bifhop of London 

February, 1 546 — 7, and made Lord Chan- was Nicholas Ridley. Newcourt i. 26. 



24 Colchester. 

been so constructed as to be consistent with the belief of a real, 
and, indeed, of a c substantial and corporal presence : ' the 
alterations now made 'were such as to authorize and foster 
the belief that the consecrated elements had no new virtues 
imparted to them, and that Christ was present in the Eucharist 
in no other manner than as He is ever present to the prayers of 
the faithful.' Before the book was finally issued, a 'declara- 
tion' was added to the Communion office, in explanation of 
the rubric that requires communicants to kneel at receiving the 
Consecrated elements, 'that it is not meant thereby that any 
adoration is done, or ought to be done, either unto the sacra- 
mental bread or wine then bodily received, or to any real and 
essential presence there being of Christ's natural flesh and 
blood." * 

In the April of this year, the day after the condemnation of 
Anne Ascue, ' one Putto, a tanner of Colcheflier, was brought 
before the King's Commiffioners.' Stiype says that 'he was 
either of her opinion or an Anabaptist/ aligning as his reason 
that these commiffioners were appointed to ' set upon enquiry 
after those sectaries chiefly.'' Putto, it appears, had been 
silenced some time before this, ' for his lewd preaching, and 
did now, nevertheless, of his own head, preach as lewdly as 
he had done before/ He v/as referred to the Archbifhop and 
the Bifhop of Ely to be corrected on the 28th of the same 
month ; he was compelled to retract and bear a faggot at St. 
Paul's Cross and at Colchefter. f 

This year also witnessed the publication of the forty-two 
Articles, which are the originals of the present thirty-ninee On 
their publication, Cranmer besought the Council ' to be meanes 
unto the King's Majeftie that all the bifhops may have authority 
from hym to cause all their prechers, with ... all their 
clergy, to subscribe to the said articles.' The council com- 
plied with his request, and the king accordingly issued letters 
to all the bifhops authorizing them to demand the subscription ; 

* Procter, Hist, of the Book of Com. f Strype, E. M. ii. i. 336; Cranmer, 

Prayer, 33 — 35. 430; Ap. to Cran. lxiv. 5 E. M. ii. ii. 106. 



Death of Edward. 25 

charging them, however, c that if any party refuse to subscribe 
to any of these articles, for lack of learning or knowledge of 
the truth thereof, ye shall in any wise, by teaching, conference, 
and proof of the same by the Scriptures, reasonably and dis- 
creetly move and persuade him thereto, before ye shall peremp- 
torily judge him as unable and a recusant.' * 

The cause of Evangelical religion was now about to sustain 
a new and heavy trial. In April, 1552, Edward was attacked 
with the small-pox ; from which he recovered, but it left him 
in so great weakness that by the beginning of 1553 he became 
very ill : and on the 6th of July in that year the young monarch 
died. c About three hours before his death, this godly child, his 
eyes being closed, speaking to himself, and thinking none to 
have heard him, made this prayer which followeth : Lord God, 
deliver me out of this miserable and wretched life, and take me 
among thy chosen 5 howbeit not my will, but thine be done. 
Lord I commend my spirit to thee. O Lord ! thou knowest 
how happy it were for me to be with thee, yet for thy chosen's 
sake, send me life and health, that I may truly serve thee. O 
my Lord God, bless thy people and save thine inheritance. 
O Lord God, save thy chosen people of England ! O my 
Lord God, defend this realm from papistry, and maintain thy 
true religion : that I and my people may praise thy holy name, 
for thy son Jesus Chrift's sake.' Edward's laft words were : 
' I am faint, Lord have mercy upon me and take my spirit.' f 



* Strype, Ecc. Mem. ii. ii. 104 — 106. -f- Fox vi. 391. 



CHAPTER III. 
1553— 1558. 



ON the death of Edward, an ill-advised attempt was made 
to seat the Lady Jane Grey upon the vacant throne ; * 
Mary, however, succeeded in defeating it, and in procuring 
herself to be proclaimed Queen, in London, on the 19th of July, f 
One of Mary's nrft measures was to remove Ridley, and to 
reftore Bonner to the See of London : a step sufficiently sig- 
nificant of the resolve which she had already taken. Within 
three weeks after her acceffion, the Queen iflued a proclamation, 
in which her determination to reftore the papacy was expreffly 
avowed. Some days before the iffue of this proclamation, 
Gilbert Bourne, who had so far closed with the reformation as 
to be inftalled Archdeacon of Bedford, in July, 154.T, and to be 
admitted to the Rectory of High Ongar, in the month of March 
following, but who had now already turned round, was preach- 
ing at Paul's Cross, when a difturbance arose, in the course of 
which some unknown person hurled a dagger at him ; and this 
furnifhed occafion for an order in council, addrefTed to the 
Mayor and Aldermen of London, bidding them to warn ' the 
curates of every parifh not only to forbear preaching themselves, 

* Among others implicated in this f Strype, E. M. iii. 20. Mary, while 

ram attempt were Richard, Lord Rich ; princess, refided much at Copt Hall, in 

Thomas, Lord Darcy j Sir John Gate, of the parifh of Waltham. In the S. P. O. 

Rivenhall (Morant ii. 146), Sir William, Dom. Ser. Ed. VI. , xiii. 35, there is a 

the founder of the Petre family (M. ii. report of a vifit paid her by Lord Rich 

63), and William Parr, Earl of EfTex (M. and others, to forbid mass to be said in 

i. 265). Sir John Gate was beheaded, but her house, dated Aug. 30, 1 551. 
the others made their peace with the 
Queen, and Petre became her Secretary of 
State. 



Chi gw ell. 27 

but also not to suffer any others to preach . . . unless 
(they) were severally licensed by the queen.' * And before 
the proclamation could have reached the provinces the die had 
been already cart. — persecution had commenced. 

Among the first to be in trouble, was John Rogers. Rogers 
held the Prebend of St. Pancras,to which there was then attached 
the V icarage of Chigwell. He had been educated at Cambridge, 
and firft settled as chaplain to the merchant adventurers at 
Antwerp. While he was there, he became acquainted with 
William Tyndal, and was his fellow labourer in the great 
work of translating the Scriptures into Englifh. While Tyndal 
was awaiting his martyrdom, Rogers was bufily engaged in 
superintending a folio edition of his Bible, which he had ready 
for importation to England in 1537. After the acceffion of 
Edward, Rogers returned to England, and was beneficed firft 
at St. Margaret Moses, and afterwards at St. Sepulchre's, in 
London. The Prebend of St. Pancras was conferred upon 
him in August, 155 1, and he was shortly afterwards chosen by 
the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's as their lecturer. Rogers 
was apprehended on the 16th of Auguft, (at the same time 
with John Bradford,) 1553, and on the 27th of January, 
1554, he was committed to Newgate. His alleged offence 
was that he preached a sermon at Paul's Cross, in which he 
had c exhorted the people conftantly to abide in the doctrine 
which they had been taught in King Edward's days.' Rogers 
was condemned to die on the 28th of January, 1554 — 5. On 
the 4th of February he was 'firft had down to Bonner to be 
degraded,' and was taken from thence by the Sheriffs of London 
to Smithfield, there to be burnt. When at the stake a pardon 
was offered to him if he would recant, but he heroically refused. 
At length c the fire was put under him, and when it had taken 
hold both upon his legs and shoulders, he as feeling no smart, 
washt his hands in the flame as tho' it had been in cold water. 



* Fox vi. 392. Bourne, Newcourt i. fignation of Wm. Barlow; but was de- 

226 — ii. 453. Wood, Ath. Ox. 699. prived on the acceffion of Elizabeth. 

He was consecrated Bifhop of Bath and Barlow was now in the Fleet. Fox 

Wells, April 1, 1544, on the forced re- vii. 77. 



28 Saffron Walden, West Ham, Markshall 

And after lifting up his hands to heaven, not removing the 
same until such time as the devouring fire had consumed them, 
moft mildly this happy martyr yielded up his spirit into the 
hands of his heavenly father.' * 

The fire thus early kindled, was not extinguished until Mary 
passed to her account ; c and ElTex was one of the five parts 
upon which the rage and vehemency of this terrible persecution 
did chiefly light.' On the 24th of October the Queen assembled 
her firft parliament ; and in November, an act was paft 
declaring c that all the laws that had been made in King 
Edward's time concerning religion were now repealed,' and 
enacting that ' from the 20th of December next, there should 
be no other form of divine service used, but what had been used 
in the laft year of Henry VIII.' \ 

While this parliament was sitting, Thomas Rose, then Vicar 
of Weft Ham, was apprehended in London. c He was a Devon- 
fhire man, and was brought from his native county, shortly after 
he became prieft, by one Fabian, Parson of Polfted in Suffolk, 
by whose means he was settled at Hadleigh.' Rose was, im- 
plicated in the deftruction of the rood at Dovercourt, for which 
offence he had been imprisoned for several months in the house 

* Newcourt i. 196= Anderson, great, that her shoes were trodden off, and 

Annals i. 568; ii. 258. Fox vi. 392, she was forced to go barefoot from Smith- 

393, 543, 588, 591 — 602. Chefter, field to St. Martin's-le-Grand, before she 

Life of Rogers, the Protomartyr, 1862. could furnish herself with a new pair.' It 

Cooper, Ath. Cant. i. 121, 122. John is also said of her, that 'being much 

Bradford was at one time minifter at Saf- afflicted in mind, many minifters repaired 

fron Walden. Fox vii. 208. Cooper, to her, and among the reil John Fox, the 

Ath. Cant. i. 127 — 129. Among the martyrologift ... in the agony of 

witnesses of Bradford's martyrdom, was her soul, having a Venice-glass in her 

Mary Waters, afterwards wife of Robert hand, she burft out into this expreflion, ' I 

Honeywood, of Charing, in Kent, and am as surely damned as this glass is broken,' 

Markefhall, in Essex. This remarkable which she immediately threw upon the 

lady was one of the daughters and co-heirs ground 5 but the glass rebounded again, 

of Robert Attivater or Waters, of Royton, and was taken up whole and entire, being 

near Lenham, in Kent. 'She used to visit still preserved by the family. She died 16th 

the prisons, and to comfort and relieve May, 1620, at the age of 93.' Morant 

the poor persecuted Protestants . . . she ii. 170. The glass, unhappily, was broken 

resolved to see the end of (Bradford's) some time since, 
suffering . . though the press was so f Parliamentary Hift. i. 610 — 615. 



Dedham^ Colchester. 2g 

of Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, in London. On his release 
from prison, he preached at Stratford, near Dedham, for three 
years, whence he came to London, and was in trouble under 
the six articles. He escaped, however, and fled to the Con- 
tinent ; after he had been in exile for three years, he attempted 
to return to England, but was imprisoned at Dieppe for several 
months. He again escaped, and ultimately settled at Attle- 
borough. On the death of Henry he came to London, 
and was shortly after presented by Edward VI. to the living of 
Weft Ham. Rose was apprehended, together with thirty 
others, at a house in Bow Churchyard, £ at the Communion.' 
Two days after his apprehenfion he was brought before 
Gardiner, then Lord Chancellor, and committed to the Clink. 
There he remained for some time, but at length escaped and 
passed over the seas, where he remained until the accefnon of 
Elizabeth, when he returned to England.* 

In December parliament was dissolved, and shortly after- 
wards another was called for the 20th of February, 1554, which 
having met, was also dissolved on the 5th of May following. 
Mary now married Philip (July 25), and a new parliament was 
called in September, to meet on the nth of November. By 
this time Cardinal Pole had arrived, and on the meeting of 
parliament he was introduced as the Pope's legate. On the 
1 8th of December an Acl: was paft reviving the statutes made 
by Richard II., Henry IV., and Henry V. againft the heretics, 
and on the 26th of December, an Acl: for the ' repeal of certain 
Acts made againft the supremacy of the See of Rome.' This 
was carrying matters with too high a hand for even some of the 
papifts. Accordingly, in this parliament some seven and thirty 
members seeing the majority inclined to sacrifice everything to 
the miniftry, voluntarily left the house. Among them was 
Robert Brown, the then member for Colchefter.f Numbers 
perceiving the extremities to which the Queen was thus pro- 



* Fox viii. 581; vi. 529, 584; vii. 401 5 ii. 147. Rood of Dovercourt, 11. 
77. Strype, Cran. 393, 395, 906. Longland, Wood, Ath. Ox. 70. 
E. M. ii. i. 523; ii. 267; iii. i. 329, f Parliamentary Hift. i. 610 — 626. 



30 Dover court, 

ceeding, soon fled the country. One of these was Thomas 
Swinnerton, not long before this Vicar of Dovercourt. He 
had taken orders in the reign of Henry, and ' having seen the 
light of the gospel, he had given himself much to itinerant 
preaching.' He had lately assumed the name of John Roberts. 
After his flight he took refuge on the Continent, where he 
died, at Emden, in Eaft Friefland. * 

Mary and Bonner loft no time in taking advantage of the 
measures already carried to execute their purpose. On the 
28th February, 1554, the bifhop issued a monition to all the 
clergy of his diocese, charging them to note all their parifhioners 
who mould not come to c confession ' and to the c sacrament ' 
by the 6th of April following, that he might proceed againfl 
them ; and in that same week c all such priests, within the 
diocese of London, as were married were deprived of their 
livings, and commanded to bring their wives within a fortnight 
that they might be likewise divorced from them.' This laft 
c the bifhop did,' says Fox, < of his own power.' In March 
the Queen issued ' Articles ' enjoining the speedy execution of 
all such c canons and ecclesiastical laws ' as had been in use in 
the time of Henry VIII. And shortly afterwards Bonner sent 
out certain c Articles ' preparatory to a general visitation of his 
diocese. f The visitation took place in September, and was 
completed by the time that Mary's third Parliament had assem- 
bled. As the result of it, nearly one hundred clergymen who 
beneficed in Essex were deprived, the greater part of .them, 
for no other crime than that of being married men. The 
general persecution now commenced, and among the first to 
suffer were William Piggot, Stephen Knight, Thomas Hawkes, 
John Lawrence, and William Hunter, all of whom were 
brought up out of Essex. 

* Wood Ath. Ox. i. 91. Cooper, tranflated Benno's Life of Hildebrand, and 

Ath. Cant. i. 124. He appears in New- 5. The Life of the Emperor Henry IV. 

court ii. 220, i. 257, as John Roberts. At the time of his flight Swinnerton was 

Swinnerton wrote : 1 . A Mutter of Schis- Vicar of All-Hallows on the Wall, 

ma tic Bifhops, otherwise naming them- London. 

selves Popes, 8vo. 2. The Plots of Papifts. 7 Fox vi. 426, 427, 545; Strype, 

3. De tropis Scripturarum. 4. He also E. M. iii. i. 217. 



Colchester, Fordham. 7> l 

Thomas Hawkes, who is described as a 'gentleman,' was of 
Coggeshall. He had been in the service of the Earl of Oxford 
at the court of Edward VI. As he was examined before Bonner 
previously to the midsummer of 1554, it should appear that he 
had been apprehended shortly after the issue of the bifhop's 
monition, and probably at the instance of the then vicar of his 
parish, Hugh Vaughan. After his first examination, Hawkes 
was remanded to prison. On the 3rd of September he appeared 
before the bifhop a second time, when he was again remanded. 
On the 8th of February, 1555, he was publicly arraigned, in 
company with his fellow prisoners, and on the 9th he was 
sentenced to death. He was then remanded to prison once 
more, and there remained until he was taken to Coggeshall, 
where he was c led to the stake by the Lord Rich and his 
affiitants. . . . After he had spoken many things, especially 
unto the Lord Rich, reasoning with him of the innocent blood 
of the saints ; at length his fervent prayer first .... poured 
out unto God, the fire was put under him. In the which, when 
he had continued long, and when his speech was taken away by 
the violence of the flame, his skin was drawn together and his 
fingers consumed in the fire, so that now all men thought 
certainly he had been gone ; suddenly, and contrary to ail 
expectation, the blessed servant of God reached up his hands, 
burning in a light fire, to the living God .... (and) struck or 
clapped them three times together. At the sight whereof there 
followed such applause and outcry of the people that you would 
have thought heaven and earth to have come together.' 

In Fox's narrative of Hawke's examinations, mention is 
made of one Baget as his fellow-prisoner. This was Samuel 
Baghett, or Baghott, Vicar of Fordham. Baghett recanted, 
escaped, and continued in his living until his death, before 
July, 1558. Thomas Hawkes left a wife, and also several 
children. His eldest son he committed to the care of Clement 
Throgmorton.* 

# Fox vi. 7045 vii. 97, 115, 116; before 6th May, 1558. Newcourt ii. 

see infra, note ; Strype, E. M. iii. p. 442. 160. Baghett was admitted rector of 

Vaughan had been presented to the vicar- Fordham 16th June, 1644. Newcourt 

age by Bonner in 1545. He resigned ii. 207. The Lord Rich was Richard, 23. 



32 Brentwood. 

William Hunter was an apprentice to one Thomas Tayler, 
of the city of London, a silk weaver. His father lived at 
Brentwood. Before his apprehension (he being already a sus- 
pected person) he had left his matter, at his request, and returned 
to his father. While residing with his father he had gone into 
the chapel of Brentwood, and finding a Bible there had read it. 
Then he fell 'in conversation with one Attwell, a Sumner.' 
Attwell, leaving the chapel, brought Thomas Wood, then 
Vicar of Southwell, to him.' Wood communicated with 
'Master Brown.' Brown, the next day afterwards, sent Hunter 
up to Bonner, who committed him to prison. After several 
previous examinations, Hunter was condemned at the same time 
with Hawkes, and in the presence, among others, of his own 
brother Robert. On the 23rd of March, 1555, he was brought 
to Brentwood to await his execution on the Tuesday following. 
After his arrival his father and mother came to him, and desired 
heartily of God that he might continue to the end in that good 
way which he had begun ; and his mother said to him that she 
was glad that ever she was so happy to bear such a child, v/hich 
could find it in his heart to lose his life for Christ's name's sake. 
Then William said, 'For my little pain which I shall suffer 
(which is but a short braid), Christ hath promised me, mother, 
a crown of joy. May you not be glad of that, mother? ' With 
that his mother kneeled down, saying, ' I pray Christ strengthen 
thee, my son, to the end. Yea, I think thee as well bestowed 
as any child that ever I bear.' At the which words Master Higbed 
took her in his arms, saying, ' I rejoice to see you in this mind, 
and you have good cause to rejoice.' This incident took place 
at an inn then known as the Swan. On the Tuesday when the 
sheriff, Edward Brockett, came to conduct him to the stake, 
Hunter's father embraced him, saying, 'William, be not afraid.' 
Hunter answered, 'I am not afraid.' 'Then,' says Fox, 'the 
sheriff's son could not speak to him no more for weeping.' 
Robert, his brother, was also present at his execution, and when 
the fire was kindled, William cast his psalter right into his 
brother's hand, who said, 'William, think on the holy paffion 
of Christ, and be not afraid of death ; ' and William answered, 



Brentwood) High Ongar ^ Braintree, Maldon. 33 

C I am not afraid.' Then lift he up his hands to heaven, and 
said, 'Lord, Lord, receive my spirit!' and, calling down his 
head again into the smothering smoke, he yielded up his life for 
the truth, sealing it with his blood, to the praise of God/ 
William Hunter, when he thus heroically suffered, was but 
nineteen years of age.* 

William Piggot and Stephen Knight, the one of whom is 
described as a c barber,' and the other as a c butcher,' and 
John Laurence, who had been ' consecrated and made a priefl 
about eighteen years paft, and was some time a black friar 
professed,' were also condemned on the same day with Thomas 
Hawkes.f 

William Piggot was shortly carried down to Braintree, where 
he was burned on the 28th of March, and Stephen Knight to 
Maldon, where he suffered on the same day that Piggot was 
burned at Braintree. Knight, on his arrival at the stake, knelt 
upon the ground and offered up a prayer, the last words of 
which were, ' O heavenly Father, forgive me my sins, as I 
forgive all the world. O [sweet Son of God, my Saviour, 
spread thy wings over me ! O blessed and Holy Ghoft, through 
whose merciful inspiration I am come hither ! conduct me into 
everlafting life. Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit.' 
In so great veneration was this good man held, that some 
persons after his death got possession of his c bones, and made 
it their practice to carry them about to show the people, not 
that they should serve for relics to be worfhipped, but by the 

* Fox. Wood, like Vaughan, had admitted, in April, to the living of Twick- 
been presented to his living by Bonner. enham, where he was deprived before the 
He was instituted to the vicarage Septem- October of that year 5 and in the follow- 
ber 21st, 1543. He now also held the ing November Thomas Wood was admitted 
living of High Ongar, to which he had to the living of Isleworth. Newcourt ii. 
been presented by the Queen on the ele- 645, 4535 i. 632, 758, 675. Brown was 
vation of Bourne to the episcopate. Wood afterwards Sir Anthony Brown. He was 
resigned South weald before February, 1558, already on the eve of being made Serjeant- 
having been admitted to the rectory of at-Law, and shortly also King and Queen's 
Harlington, in Middlesex, on the 17th of Serjeant. In 1558 Sir Anthony became 
January previously. In 1559 he was de- Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 
prived of both Ongar and Harlington; M. i. 118. 
but in 1562 we find a Thomas Wood f Fox vi. 702 — 709. 

D 



34 Braintree, Colchester, Hornedon-on-the-Hill. 

sight of them to excite the professors to conftancy to the death, 
after Piggot's example.' * 

John Laurence was brought to Colchefter, where he suffered 
on the 29th of March. c Not being able to go (for that as 
well his legs were sore worn with heavy irons in prison, as also 
his body weakened with evil keeping,) he was borne to the fire 
in a chair, and so sitting, was, in his conftant faith, consumed 
in the fire.' Fox adds, c The young children came about the 
fire, and cried, as well as young children could speak, saying, 
4 Lord, strengthen thy servant, and keep thy promise ! ' f 

Shortly after these apprehenfions, two other Essex men were 
betrayed to Bonner, Thomas Higbed and Thomas Caufton. 

Higbed refided at ' Hornedon House,' in the parish of 
Hornedon-on-the-Hill. Caufton refided at Thunderfley. Both 
of them were persons of some consideration in the neighbour- 
hood, Higbed being possessed of landed property not only at 
Hornedon, but also in another part of the county, and Caufton 
holding the manor of Tillingham Grange and Mowich, which 
laft is now known as Midlins, with appurtenances in Tilling- 
ham and Denge.J They were firft given in cuftody to the 
officers at Colchefter, together with a servant of Caufton's, 
whose name does not appear. While they were at Colchefter, 
c perceiving them to be of worshipful eftate, and of great 
eftimation in the county,' Bonner personally vifited them, 
thinking to reclaim them. Finding his efforts to be in vain, 
the bifhop, on his return to London, took them with him. 
They were brought to ' open examination in the consiftory in 
St. Paul's' on the 17th of February, 1555; when they were 
demanded by Bonner and Gilbert Bourne, whether they would 

* Fox vi. 740 _; Strype, E. M. i. i. J Morant i. 219; i. 371. In the S. 

544; iii. i. 332, 334. Strype mentions P. O. Dom. Ser. Elizabeth cxxv. 52, 

an order from the Council, May 3, 1555, under date August 12th, 1578, there is a 

sent down to Thomas Daniel and William petition from Aylmer, then Bifhop of 

Colt, two Justices of the Peace of Suffolk, London, to Lord Burleigh, in behalf of S. 

to apprehend two persons named Barnard Whythead, Nat Traheron, and W. True- 

and Walsh, who were guilty of this offence love, grandsons of Caufton, entreating his 

at Sudbury. afhstance in recovering their grandfather's 

f Fox vi. 704. property. 



Ray deigh , Thorpe, Stratford. 35 

recant, and on their refusal, were remanded unto the following 
day. On the 9th of March they appeared before the bifhop for 
the laft time, when they were both of them sentenced to die. 
They were then sent to Newgate, and on the 23rd they were 
delivered into the cuftody of the Sheriff of Essex. Both of 
them suffered on the same day with William Hunter. Higbed 
was burnt at Hornedon-on-the-Hill, and Cauflon at Rayleigh.* 
On the 1st of January, 1555, there was a congregation 
discovered in a house in Bow Lane, probably the same in 
which Thomas Rose had been discovered the year before, and 
several of them were apprehended. Among the prisoners was 
Elizabeth Warne. She was first taken to the Compter, and 
while she was lying there her husband was apprehended, and in 
May he was burnt at Smithfield. On the nth of June, Warne 
was removed to Newgate. She then seems to have escaped, 
but it was only for a few weeks, as on the 2nd of July she was 
brought before Bonner, in company with nine others, among 
them Thomas Layes, of Thorpe, Stephen Harwood, and Joan 
Lafhford, her own daughter by her firft husband Robert Lafh- 
ford. Warne was now condemned to die, as also was Stephen 
Harwood. They were both burnt at Stratford on the 8 th of Auguft 
following. Thomas Layes was committed to the Lollard's 
Tower, where shortly afterwards he sickened and died. After 
his death, his body was caff out into the fields, and there buried 
by night of faithful brethren, c propter metum Judaeorum.' f 
Joan Lafhford was remanded until the 27th of January following, 



* Fox vi. 729 — 737. The Vicar of Layes. But as John Blanke had been de- 
Hornedon and the Rector of Thunderfley prived at Thorpe, and Thomas Whit.el at 
had juft been deprived. The Rector of Kirby in 1554, this must have been done 
Thunderfley was Robert Drakes, of whom in secret. The Vicar of Walton, accord- 
more infra. It should seem that Thomas ing to Newcourt, was William Rufhbrook, 
Chipping, the Vicar of Hornedon, also was who had managed to retain his living 
a good man. Newc. ii. 343, 587. under all the changes that had taken 

f Fox vii. 342, 77, 82, 749, 752. It place since 1484, and still continued to 

appears that the Englifh service had con- retain it afterwards, until his death in 

tinued to be read at Thorpe as well as in 1561. The presumption is, that Whittel 

the adjoining parifhes of Kirby, Walton, was the person by whom the service was 

and another, up to the apprehenfion of thus read. Newcourt ii. 586, 353, 638. 

D 2 



36 Kirby, Walton^ Thunder sley , Hockley ^ Booking. 

when she was also burnt in London at the same time v/ith 
Thomas Whittel and John Went. 

On the 22nd of March, 1555, six persons were sent up to 
London from this county : Robert Drakes, William Tyms, 
Richard Spurge, Thomas Spurge, John Cavell, and George Am- 
brose. Drakes, had been ' parson ' of Thunderiley. ' He was firft 
made deacon,' says Fox, c by Dr. Taylor, of Hadley.' He was 
afterwards made prieft, and presented to the Rectory of Thun- 
deriley by Edward VI. in January 1550, and there he continued 
until he was deprived by Bonner, before June 1554.* Tyms 
had been curate of Hockley, the vicar of which parifh, John 
Carter, had been deprived some two months before the deprival 
of Drakes, at Thunderiley. \ There were at Hockley two woods, 
the one called Plumborough Wood, and the other Beaches 
Wood, both of which belonged to Edmund Tyrrell. J In these 
woods Tyms used to preach. Tyrrell hearing of this, caused 
him to be apprehended, and sent him to London. Richard 
Spurge is described as a c shearman,' Cavell as a c weaver,' and 
Thomas Spurge and Ambrose as c fullers \ ' they were all of 
Bocking. || The two clergymen were committed to the 
King's Bench, and their four companions to the Marshalsea. 
Having remained in prison and 'in great misery' for ten 
months, the Bocking men were then brought before Bonner, 
and charged with c not coming unto their parifh church.' To 
this they all pleaded guilty. Richard Spurge affigning as his 
reason, that he ' mifliked the Latin service, and the mass also, 
as not consonant and agreeing with God's word ; ' Thomas 
Spurge, c that the word of God was not there truly preached ; ' 

* Taylor had been apprehended some -j- Newcourt ii. 331. 

months before this, and had already suf- J Tyrrell was seated at the Beaches, 

fered at Hadleigh on the 9th of Feb. Rawreth. Morant i. 286, 288. 
Fox vi. 676 — 700. Fox says that Drakes || The then Rector of Bocking was 

was presented to Thunderiley by Lord John King, who had been presented to 

Rich, and at the inftance of Mafter the living by Cranmer in 1532. He had 

Caufton. But the living was in the changed about with all the changes. The 

crown, and the admiflion is exprenly re- next year after this he was rewarded for 

corded as having taken place on the pre- his pliancy with a second living, that of 

sentation of Edward. Newcourt ii. 587. Bardfield Magna. Newcourt ii. 69, 29. 



Thundersley, Coggeshall, Braintree, Hockley, Horksley. 37 

and Ambrose, that c since he had read Stephen Gardiner's book, 
' De Vera Obedientia,' he did much less set by their doing than 
before.' Cavell answered that c the cause why he did forbear 
the coming to the church was, that the parson had preached 
two contrary doctrines ; for firft, on the Queen's coming to 
the crown he did exhort the people to believe the Gospel, for 
it was the truth, and if they did not believe it they should be 
damned. But in a second sermon he preached that the Tes- 
tament was false in forty places. ? Robert Drakes was brought 
up from prison on the 4th of March following. On the 21st 
of March, all six again appeared before Bonner. Drakes and 
Tyms once more on the 23rd, and on the 26th they were all 
examined for the laft time. They were now condemned ; and 
on the 23rd of April, 1556, they were all burnt in one fire at 
Smithfield.* 

On the 1st of April, 1555, William Andrew, of Horksley, 
' carpenter,' was brought to Newgate by John Motham, ' con- 
ftable ' of Maldon. c This poor man through strait handling 
in the prison of Newgate loft his life there, and so he was 
caft out into the fields, and by night was privily buried by the 
hands of good and faithful brethren. 'f Fourteen days after the 
committal of Andrew to Newgate, steps were taken for the 
apprehension of William Flower, otherwise called Branch, 
who had formerly been a schoolmafter in this county, firft at 
Braintree and afterwards at Coggeshall. Flower was one of 
the itinerant preachers of those times. He was a Cambridge- 
shire man, a native of Snailwell. He had firft been a ' pro- 
fessed monk ' in the Abbey of Ely, and afterwards a secular 
prieft in his native place. From Snailwell he removed to 
Lidgate, in Suffolk, where he was in trouble under the c six 
articles.' He then went into Gloucefterfhire, where he settled 
at Tewkesbury. From thence he came to London, and from 
London into Essex. At the time of his apprehension he was 

* Fox viii. 105, 121, 179. Fox 113, Thomas Spurge's printed byStrype, E. M. 

says they suffered on the 14th of April, Hi. ii. 319, 320. It was written by the 

adding ' as before is mentioned.' I have martyr for the use of the persecuted 

therefore taken the date which he gives, generally, 
p. 105. There is a beautiful prayer of f Fox vii. 371. 



38 Braintree, Coggeshall^ Billericay. 

residing at Lambeth. c Howbeit,' says Fox, c he was for the 
moft part always abroad, and very seldom at home except once 
or twice a week.' On the Eafter-day before his apprehension, 
he had come ' over the water from Lambeth to St. Margaret's 
church at Weftminfter, where he seeing a prieft called John 
Cheltham miniftering and giving the sacrament of the altar to 

the people, did strike and wound him upon the 

head, and also upon the arm and hand with his wood knife, 
the priest having at the same time in his hand a chalice with 
certain consecrated noils therein, which were sprinkled with 
(his) blood.' Flower was imprisoned in the Gate-house, 
where he was c laid with as many irons as he could bear,' and 
on the 19th of April he was brought before Bonner, when he 
protefted that ' whereas he struck the prieft,' he had c since 
that time, and yet did mislike himself in that doing, and did 
then judge and believe that the same his act, was evil and 
naught. Howbeit, as far as the cause whereof he so struck the 
prieft (which was for miniftering the sacrament of the altar, 
which he took and judged to be abominable), he did not at all 
mislike himself therein.' On the 20th he was condemned to 
die ; and on the 24th, his right hand having first been struck off 
at the stake, he was burnt in the churchyard of St. Margaret's. 
When the fire was set to him, he cried with a loud voice, 
' O thou Son of God, have mercy upon me ! O thou Son of 
God, receive my soul ! ' three times, and so his speech being 
taken from him, he spake no more, lifting up, notwithftanding, 
his stump with his other arm as long as he could.'* 

On the 26th of April, Thomas Wats, of Billericay, was appre- 
hended and brought before the Lord Rich ; Sir Henry Tyrrel, 
of Heron; Sir Anthony Brown; Edmund Tyrrel, of Beaches; 
Thomas Mildmay, of Moulsham Hall ; Sir John Wiseman, of 
Much Canefield Park; Sir Roger Appleton, of South Benflete 
Hall; Richard Wiseman, of Skreens ; and others. f Wats was 
by occupation a c draper.' Juft before he was apprehended, this 

* Fox vii. 38, 68, 76. John Chelt- f Morant, Hist, of Essex, i. 209, 118, 

ham, a priest of the Abbey. Strype, E. 286; ii. 3, 461 ; i. 263 ; ii. 71. 
M. iii. i. 337, 34* • 



Chelmsford. 39 

good man c had sold and made away all his cloth in his shop, 

and disposed his things to his wife and children, and 

given away much of his cloth to the poor, for he looked always 
to be taken.' It is evident from his examinations that he was 
a preacher as well as a professor of the Gospel. Wats was im- 
mediately sent up to London, where he appeared before Bonner 
on the 2nd of May, was remanded, appeared before Nicholas 
Harpsneld (who was at that time Rector of Laingdon-cum- 
Basildon, and then acted as Bonner's deputy) on the 10th, and 
was remanded once more ; appeared again before Bonner on 
the 17th, and finally before Bonner, a third time, on the 18th 
of May. He was now condemned to die, and sent to Newgate 
to await the execution of his sentence. On the 9th of June 
Wats was conveyed to Chelmsford. There he was c firffc 
brought to an inn kept by one Scot,' where he was allowed to 
1 eat meat ' with Thomas Hawkes, who also arrived there that 
morning on his way to the stake at Coggeshall the next day -, 
Nicholas Chamberlain, Thomas Osmond, and William Barn- 
ford, who were also on their way to the stake ; and Thomas 
Osborne, Thomas Brodehill and Richard Web, all three of 
whom were going down to Coggeshall, there to make their 
public recantation. Such a meeting, under such circumstances, 
who shall describe ? After their meal, the four who had been 
c faithful unto death,' and were now so soon to receive their 
c crowns of eternal life,' knelt down and prayed together, and 
then they separated calm and peaceful in the confidence of 
meeting there ! 

After Wats had parted with his fellow-sufferers, he went 
and prayed privately to himself, and then came to his wife and 
his six children, who had come to take their last farewell of 
him, and said, c Wife, and my good children, I must now 
depart from you. Therefore, henceforth know I you no more ; 
but as the Lord hath given you unto me, so I give you again 
unto the Lord, whom I charge you that you do obey and fear; 
and beware ye turn not to this abominable papiftry againft the 
which I mail anon, by God's grace, give my blood. Let not 
the blood of God's saints cause you to relent, but take occasion 



40 Coggeshall^ Great Bursted^ Southchurch. 

thereby to be stronger in the Lord's quarrel, and I doubt not 
that He will be a merciful Father unto you.' He then bade 
them farewell, kissed them all, and was carried to the fire 
which was already prepared for him in that town. At the 
stake, after he had kissed it, he spoke to Lord Rich, saying, 
c My Lord, beware, beware ! For you do againft your own 
conscience herein, and without you repent the Lord will avenge 
it, for you are the cause of my death.' Rich received another 
warning, similar to this, from the lips of Thomas Hawkes 
the next day following.* 

Osmond, Bamford, (who was otherwise called Butler,) 
Osborne, Chamberlain, Brodehill, and Web, were all of Cog- 
geshall, and had been sent up to Bonner on the ist of May. 
On their appearance before Bonner, Osborne, Brodehill, and 
Web consented to recant ; but Osmond, Bamford, and Cham- 
berlain refused to do so. Accordingly, sixteen days after their 
apprehension, articles were formally objected againft them, c to 
which, when they had given in their answers, they were 
remanded until the next day. . . . Then in the forenoon the 
bifhop, using his accustomed manner of proceeding, did like- 
wise dismiss them ; and at last, in the afternoon, condemned 
them as heretics, and so delivered them to the sheriffs.' 
Chamberlain was burnt at Colchefter on the 14th of June, and 
Osmond and Bamford were both of them burnt on the 15th. 
Osmond at Manningtree and Bamford at Harwich, f 

Shortly after this John Simson and John Ardeley, both of 
whom were c husbandmen,' and of the ' town of Wigborough,' 
were brought up to London. They were arraigned before 
Bonner, at St. Paul's, on the 22nd of May, in the presence of 
c so great a multitude of people that the confistory being too 
small to contain them, numbers were fain to stand in the 
church.' Simson was condemned that day, and Ardeley three 

* Fox vii. 118, 122. The Vicar of Southchurch in 1556. Gibson died at 

Great Bursted had been deprived the year Southchurch in 1559. Newcourt ii. 116, 

before, Hugh Gibson. It should seem, 535. 

however, that he shortly relented, as we -f Fox vii. 139 — 142. 
find him presented by Cardinal Pole to 



Rochford, Ray high, Kirhy^ Saffron Walden. 41 

days afterwards. After their condemnation they were delivered 
to the sheriffs, and sent down into Effex, where they were 
both burnt on the 10th of June. Simson at Rochford, and 
Ardeley at Rayleigh.* 

As Edmund Tyrrel was returning from the execution of 
Simson and Ardeley, he met with two men, ' whom, when he 
had examined and searched them,' he discovered to be also 
c gospellers ' and friends of the Wigborough martyrs. He 
immediately seized them and had them sent to the Queen's 
Commissioners, accompanied with a letter addressed to one of 
these officers, whom Fox conjectures to have been Sir Richard 
Southwell, f Southwell had them conveyed to Bonner, by 
whom they were condemned on the 5th of July. The name 
of one of them was John Denley, and that of the other John 
Newman. Denley was burnt at Uxbridge, on the 8th of 
August, and Newman at Saffron Walden, on the 31st of that 
month. \ 

About the same time, or shortly afterwards, Thomas 
Whittel and John Went were also sent up to Bonner. 
Whittel had been Rector of Kirby-le-Soken, to which 
living he was presented by Edward VI. before April, 1550. 
He was deprived by Bonner before February, 1554, and 
after he had been c expulsed, he went abroad, where he 
might, now here and there, as occasion miniftered, preaching 
and sowing the Gospel of Chrift.' He was apprehended by 
one Edmund Alabafter, and was firfl brought up before 
Gardiner, c who was lately fallen sick of his disease, whereof 
he not long after died mod strangely.' Gardiner sent him up 
to Bonner. Before Bonner, Whittel's courage failed him, 
and he was induced to sign a recantation, having done which, 
he was set at liberty. But he afterwards repented. He 'felt,' 
however, ' such a hell in his conscience that he could scarce 
refrain from deftroying himself, and could never be at quiet 
until he had gone to the bifhop's registrar desiring to see his 



* Fox vii. 86 — 90 ; see also p. 330. % Fox vii. 329, 329 ; Newman viii. 

\ Morant ii. 21, 152. 243 — 247. 



42 Kirby^ Langham, Colchester, Billericay. 

bill again, the which, as soon a~ he had received, he tore it in 

pieces, and after was as joyful as any might be. 5 As Whirrei 
was following Bonner out of the room where they had met, 
the bifhop turned back and beat him with his fift, ' firft ::. me 
cheek and then on the other, as the sign of his reciting did 

many davs appear.' Two davs afterwards he appeared before 
Bonner again: the:; he was once more admonifhed, and 
'persuasions entreated bv the bifhop, who, because he would 
not agree unto the same, then proceeded to his actual degrada- 
tion In the midit of the ceremonies Whittel said unto 

them, Paul and Titus had not so much ado with their priefts 
and bifhops; and further speaking to the bifhop, he said unto 
him, My lord, your religion standeth moit with the Church : f 
Rome and not with the Cathzdi: Church of Carina He was 
now sentenced to die. On the next day following he was c : re- 
mitted to the secular power, and on the 27th of January he 
was led to the stake in London, in company with Went, Joan 
Lashfbrd, and rave others.* Wen: " T .-;.s a active 0: Laarham : 
beyond which, and the facf that he "was burnt at the sauce time 
with Lafhford and Whittel, we know nothing of him. f About 
the 7th of December in this year, James Gere died c in the 
prison at Colchelter, laid there in c :aas rbr the right and truth 
of God'"s word." 

During the year 1556, the persecution raged as fiercely as 
ever. On the 2nd of March Sir John Mordaunt, of Winslow's, 
Hempftead, and Edmund Tvrrel sent up three persons to 
Bonner, accompanied with a letter to the effect that they were 
not c conformable to the orders of the church, and that they 
doubted not, with the punilhment of these and others before 
sent, but that the parifhes of Billericay and Great Bunted 
should be brought to good conformity. 3 These three were 
Joan Potter, tic e wife of Hugh Porter : James Harris, servant of 
William Harris, of Bromhill ; ana Margaret Ellis. The others 
whom thev had sent up before from these places, were Joan 

* F . -::. -:?. -::: NV.r- \ 7 :x -■'.':. 715, -48. 

court!:. 553 \ Stiype, E. M. :.. L 470; 

Annals i. ii. 99. 



Bocking, East Thorp, Dagenham, Colchester. 43 

Horns, of Billericay, ' maid,' and Elizabeth Thackvel, of 
Great Burfted, ' maid,' befides Wats, who had been burnt at 
Chelmsford. About the same date, Katherine Hut, of Bocking, 
widow, was also sent up to Bonner. Of Potter we hear 
nothing further. Harris was but a strippling of seventeen years 
of age. His crime was, that he had not gone to his parifh 
church c by the space of a year or more,' which he confessed 
to be the fact. After appearing before the bishop several times, 
he was apparently persuaded to go to confession. ' But when 
he came to the prieft he stood still and said nothing. ' Why,' 
quoth the prieft, c sayest thou nothing ? ' c What shall I say? ' 
said Harris. c Thou muft confess thy sins,' said the prieft. ' My 
sins,' saith he, 'be so many that they cannot be numbered.' 
With that the priest told Bonner what he had said, and he, of 
his accustomed devotion, took the poor lad into his garden, and 
there with a rod, gathered out of a cherry-tree, did most cruelly 
whip him.'* The other four prisoners, after undergoing a pre- 
liminary examination, were retained in custody until the 13th 
of April, when they again appeared before the bifhop, and were 
sentenced to the stake. Ellis died in Newgate before the day 
of her burning arrived ; but Hut, Thackvel, and Horns were 
all three burnt together at Smithfield on the 18th of May. 'f 

On the 28th of the same month, seven persons were 
delivered into the hands of John Kingfton, then Vicar of 
East Thorp, one of Bonner's commissaries. These were 
Chriftopher Lyfter, of. Dagenham, ' husbandman ; ' John 
Mace, of Colchester, ' apothecary ;' John Spencer, of Col- 
chester, 'weaver;' Simon Joyne, 'sawyer;' Richard Nichols, 
of Colchefter, ' weaver ;' John Hammond, of Colchefter, 
' tanner ; ' and Richard Grasbroke. Kingfton sent them to 
Bonner, ' who, because he (as it seemed by the short process 
recorded by his register) waxed now weary, made a very quick 
despatch of them.' Grasbroke submitted himself, but the 
other six were all condemned to die. They were then com- 
mitted to prison, ' from whence, on the receipt of the King 

* Fox viii. 526. -f- Fox vi'ii. 141, 144. 



44 Barking, Stratford, West Berghott, Standford. 

and Queen's writ,' they were sent to Colchefter, c where, the 
28th day of April, moft cheerfully they ended their lives to 
the glory of God's holy name and the great encouragement 
of others.' * 

Shortly after this, Hugh Lavercock, a lame old man, of the 
parish of Barking, was c taken,' and appeared before Bonner 
on the 1 st of May, in company with c one John Apprice,' 
who was blind. After their examination they were both of 
them sent to Newgate, whence they were brought up for the 
laft time on the 9th of May. Then, being c travailed ' with to 
recant their opinions, Hugh Lavercock firfr. said, c I will 
ftand to mine answers and to that I have confessed ;' and John 
Apprice replied, c Your doctrine is so agreeable with the 
world and embraced of the same that it cannot be agreeable 
with the Scripture of God, and ye are not of the Catholic 
Church, for you make laws to kill men, and make the Queen 
your hangman.' In the afternoon of that day they were 
sentenced to death, and on the 15th of May they were taken 
to the stake at Stratford. c Hugh Lavercock,' after he was 
chained, caft away his crutch, and comforting John Apprice, 
his fellow-martyr, said unto him : c Be of good cheer, my 
brother, for my Lord of London is our good physician. He 
will heal us both shortly; thee of thy blindness, and me of 
my lameness. And so patiently these two good servants of 
God together suffered.' f 

On the 6th of June ten persons appeared before Darbyshire, 
Bonner's Chancellor, all of whom were of this county. 
Agnes George, of West Bergholt, near Colchefter, wife of 
Richard George, of that parish ; Henry Wye, c brewer,' of 
Stanford-le-Hope ; William Halliwell, a c smith,' of Waltham 
Holy Cross ; Ralph Jackson, a c serving man,' of Chipping 



* Fox vii. 138 — 140. Kingston had presented Kingston to the rectory of Great 

been presented to his rectory in 1528, so Birch, and he continued afterwards to hold 

that he must; have witnessed more than both livings until his death in 1558. 

one change in the 'Establifhed Religion,' Newcourt ii. 239, 59. 

and equally acquiesced in them all. In -f Fox vii. 140 — 141. 
less than two years after this Lord Rich 



Chipping Ongar, Rettendon, Colchester, Dunmow. 45 

Ongar ; John Derifall, a c labourer,' of Rettendon ; Edmund 
Hunt, of the parifh of St. James, Colchefter ; Thomas 
Bowyer, a c weaver,' of Eaft Dunmow ; George Searles, a 
4 tailor,' of White Notley ; John Routh, a c labourer/ of 
Wicks ; and Elizabeth Pepper, the wife of Thomas Pepper, 
of the parifh of St. James, Colchefter.* Two of these 
were young persons, Searles being about twenty-one, and 
Agnes George twenty-six. Wye, Bowyer, Routh, Searles, 
and Agnes George, who had been committed because she 
' would not go to church ' — which was also the great crime 
alleged against Elizabeth Pepper — were all of them brought up 
from the prisons at Colchefter. After their examinations the 
ten were sentenced to death, together with three others that 
appeared before the Chancellor at the same time, and then the 
whole thirteen were committed to Newgate to await their 



* The Incumbents of moft of these 
parifhes had acquiesced in not a few of the 
changes of the laft few years. The Rec- 
tor of Bergholt was Edmund Torrell, who 
was admitted in March, 1 53 1 j as he 
continued Rector until his death in 1559, 
he muft have repented yet once more. 
Newcourt ii. 56. James Scott, the Rec- 
tor of Ongar, had been admitted in 1552. 
He was also Rector of the adjacent parifh 
of Greenftead, to which he was admitted 
in 1548. He also turned again, and died 
in 1577. Newcourt ii. 451, 289. The 
Rector of Rettendon was John Vaughan. 
He was admitted in April, 1 541, but did 
not survive to make another change, as 
he died in 1557. Newcourt ii. 491. The 
Rector of Dunmow was John Byrd, who 
succeeded on the deprival of Jeffrey Crisp 
in 1554. Byrd was originally a Carmelite 
monk, who turned with the times, and 
became a zealous preacher of the King's 
supremacy in the reign of Henry VIII. 
Henry rewarded him for his pliancy, firft, 
with an Irifh bifhopric, afterwards with 
the See of Bangor, and at length with 



that of Chefter. Byrd continued to con- 
form again under Edward VI., and turned 
round once more on the acceffion of Mary. 
He was now one of Bonner's suffragans, 
and is the bifhop of whom Fox speaks as 
having been present at the examination of 
Thomas Hawkes, to whom he said — 
'You are a young man, and I would not 
wish you to go too far, but learn of your 
elders to bear somewhat.' Wood Ath. 
Ox. i. 99 5 Strype, Cranmer 87, 88, 89, 
443, 5 19 j Strype, E. M. ii. ii. 173 ; iii. 
i. 218; Strype, Grindal 458. Byrd was 
Rector of Great Dunmow until his death 
in 1559. Jeffrey Jones, the Vicar of White 
Notley, had also acquiesced in not a few 
changes ; but he was at leaft unwilling to 
make another. Jones was admitted in 
March 1 537 j on the acceffion of Eliza- 
beth he was deprived. Newcourt ii. 442. 
There is no clue to the Incumbents of 
Waltham, Wicks, or of St. James', Col- 
chefter. The Rector of Stanford-le- 
Hope was Thomas Bannefter, admitted 
May, 1556, and died the November 
following. Newcourt ii. 548. 



46 Stratford, Walton, Horksley, Ray high, Holland. 

execution. They all suffered at Stratford, on the 27th of 
June. ' The eleven men were tied to three stakes, and the 
two women loose in the midst, without any stake ; and so they 
were all burnt in one fire, with such love to each other, and 
conftancy in our Saviour Chrift, that it made all the lookers-on 
to marvel.'* 

In 1557, the persecution still increased. On the 8th of 
February a commillion was issued to twenty persons, among 
whom were Henrv Cole, then Dean of St. Paul's, who had 
been Rector of Chelmsford from 154c to 1547. t Sir John 
Mordaunt, of Winslow's, and Sir Roger Cholmley, of Playtz, 
Weftham, invefting them with ftill further powers for the 
apprehenfion of the heretics. In the month of August after 
this, three and twenty persons c about the town of Colchefter 
were apprehended at one clap,' of which twenty-three one 
escaped : the other twentv-two were c driven up like a flock 
of Chriftian lambs to London, with two or three leaders with 
them at moff, readv to give their skins to be plucked off 
for the Gospel's sake.' The one that escaped was Alice, the 
wife of Vv illiam Wallev, of Colchester, who submitted herself, 
alked absolution, and promised to do her solemn penance in her 
parifh church of St. Peter's, and to continue a ' Catholic and 
faithful woman as long as God should send her life.' The 
twenty-two were Robert Colman, of Walton j Thomas and 
John Winsley, of Great Horkslev ; Stephen Glover, of 
Rayleigh; Richard Clerke, 'mariner,' of Great Holland; 
William Munt, Alice Munt, and Rose Allen, of Great 
Bentley; Margaret Field, of Ramsey j Agnes Whitelock, of 
Dovercourt ; Richard Bougeour, Richard Jolley, Thomas 
Feersane, and William Bougeour, of Colcheffer; Richard 

* Fox viii. 151, 154. Fox says, Eliza- f Fox viii. 301 — 303. Cole preached 

beth Pepper, when she was burned, was at the martyrdom of Cranmer, at Oxford, 

eleven weeks gone with child as she then in 1555. Strype, Cranmer 550 — 554. 

teftified to one Bosom's wife, who then He was Pole's Vicar-general. Strype, 

unloosed her neckerchief, saying, more- Ecc. Mem. hi. ii. 27. He had also been 

over, when she was asked why she did not a great Reformer in Edward's time. 

tell them, 'Why!' quoth she, 'they Wood Ath. Ox. i. 196. 
knew it well enough.' 



Dedham, Coggeshall, Colchester. 47 

Atkin, and Ellen Ewring, of Halsted ; Richard Barcock, of 
Wiston, Suffolk; Richard, the husband of Agnes George, who 
was burnt at Stratford ; Robert Debnam, of Dedham ; Cicely 
Warren and Chriftian Pepper, of Coggeshall; and Allin 
Simpson.* 

The whole party was sent up to Bonner by Kingfton, with 
a characteristic letter, the bearers of which were William 
Godwin, of Much Birch, husbandman, and Thomas Alsey, 
of Copford, which last was Bonner's apparitor of the con- 
sistory of Colchefter. In this letter Kingston, after informing 
the Bishop that the Commissioners had taken measures for 
seizing all the 'lands, tenements, and goods of certain fugitives,' 
among whom we afterwards learn was one John Lowe, of 
' Colchefter Heath, a perverse place,' and relating certain 
incidents connected with the delivery of the prisoners into his 
hands, he reminds his lordship that c if the householders might 
be compelled to bring every man his own wife to her own 
seat in the church, in the time of divine service, it would profit 
much.' The twenty- two were all bound together with ' gyves 
and hemp, and in this way they travelled up to London.' 
When they reached the city, as they passed through Cheapside, 
' they both exhorted the people to their part,' says Bonner in a 
letter which he wrote to Pole on the subject, c and had much 
comfort e promiscua plebe.' At the inftance of Pole an easy 
submiflion was framed for them, which being signed, they 
were released, and for this time they all escaped. Before the 
end of the year, however, some of them were in trouble again. 
Not long after the return of William and Alice Munt, and 

* The Incumbents of Bergholt 45, livings under Edward j and the Incum- 

Walton 35, and Coggefhall 31. In the bents of Walton, Ramsey, Rayleigh, and 

other eight Eflex parishes that are men- Dedham, all turned round on the acceflion 

tioned, there had been but two deprivals of Elizabeth. Cootes, the Rector of Great 

on the acceffion of Mary, and one of Horkfley, seems to have been a confiftent 

them, Great Bentley, could not have been Papift, as he was deprived in 1562. 

for conscience sake, as Shereman was pre- Newcourt ii. in locc. In the regifter of 

sented to the Vicarage of Bulmer in 1556. the parifh of St. Nicholas, Colchefter, we 

The Incumbents of Walton, Ramsey, and find this entry : 1560, Margaret, daughter 

Halftcd, had all of them enjoyed their of Rich. Bougeour, baptized Aug. II. 



48 Great Bentley, Colchester^ TVakering, Harwich. 

Rose Allen, to Great Bentlev, a petition was sent to the Lord 
Darcy by Thomas Tve, a prieft then already resident in the 
parifh, and certain others, complaining of them not only as 
having c in their own persons shewn manifest tokens of dis- 
obedience in not coming to the church' . . . but also as 
' having seduced many. 3 In the beginning of Man's re'ign 
Tye had professed himself to be a gospeller, and c for a twelve- 
month or more he came not to the church, but frequented 
the company of godlv men and women, and as thev thought 
he laboured to keep a good conscience ;' but he had now 
turned round, and as his reward for betraying those whom he 
once called his brethren, he was in the course of the year 
presented to the vicarage.* Five days after his admission to the 
vicarage, Tye writes to Bonner : ' Since the coming down of 
the twenty-two rank heretics dismissed from vou, the deteftable 
sort of schismatics were never so bold since the King and 
Queen's Majesties' reign, as they are now at this present. . . 
Thev assemble together upon the Sabbath day in the time of 
divine service, sometimes in one house, sometimes in another, 
and there keep their privy conventicles.' Tye then proceeds 
to complain of the c Jurats and Questmen,' and to throw out 
hints that even the bifhops are favourers of heretics ; and adds : 
c The rebels are stout in the town of Colcheiter. The 
ministers of the church are hemmed at in the open streets, and 
called knaves. The blessed sacrament of the altar is blas- 
phemed and railed upon in every house and tavern. Pravers 
and failings are not regarded. Seditious talks and news are rife 
as though there had no honourable lords and commissioners 
been sent for reformation.' In this letter Tve encloses an 
account of a two months' tour which he had just completed 
in other parts of the county, in the course of which he 
mentions visits paid by him to Great Wakering, Harwich, 
Langenhoe, and Peldon. 

The Munts, becoming aware of the proceedings that were 
in progress against them, now concealed themselves. About 

* Tye was admitted 13th December, 1557, on the presentation of Bonner. Newc. ii. 5c. 



Thorpe^ Colchester^ Backing. 49 

the beginning of March, however, they returned from their 
concealment, and they were soon taken. c By two o'clock of 
the morning on Sunday' the 7th of that month, Edmund Tyrrel 
with others came to their house. He bade them at once pre- 
pare to come to Colchefter Caftle. Alice Munt desired that 
her daughter might firft fetch her some drink. To this Tyrrel 
consented, and Rose Allen accordingly went out, taking a stone 
pot in one hand and a candle in the other. On her return 
Tyrrel met her, and taking the candle from her held her wrist, 
and c the burning candle under her hand burning crosswise over 
the back thereof so long till the very sinews cracked asunder 
.... In which time of his tyranny he often said to her, 
4 Why, whore, wilt thou not cry ? Thou young whore, wilt 
thou not cry ? ' unto which she always answered, that she had 
no cause she thanked God, but rather to rejoice.' Tyrrel and 
his companions then searched the house, and found there John 
Thurfton also and Margaret his wife, whom they carried with 
the Munts to Colchester, and lodged them all in prison. About 
the same time John Johnson, otherwise called John Aliker, of 
Thorpe, was also brought to Colchester Castle; and shortly 
afterwards two others of the twenty-two, William Bougeour 
and Ellen Ewring, were apprehended and laid in the c Mote 
Hall,' together with William Purcas, a native of Bocking, 
Agnes Silverside, and Elizabeth Fowkes, c a young maid ' of 
the age of twenty, who was a native of Stoke-by-Nayland, and 
then a servant to Nicholas Clere, in Colchester.* 

While these prisoners were in custody, one Richard Rothe, 
who had been a fellow prisoner with the twenty-two in London 
and who was now in prison for the second time, wrote them a 
letter c with his own blood.' This letter, unhappily, never 
reached them. Rothe continued in prison until the September 
following, when he was burnt at Islington, in company with 
three others. John Thurfton died in prison in the May after 
his apprehension. The others, to whom there was shortly 
added Agnes, the wife of Richard Bougeour, having been 

* A Nicholas Clere was bailiff of Colchefter, 1564— 1605. Mor. MSS. Col. Mus. 

E 



50 Colchester. 

frequently examined previously, were at length brought before 
William Chadsey, one of Bonner's chaplains ; J ohn Kingfton ; 
John Boswell, Bonner's Secretary; and Robert Brown and 
Robert Maynard, who were then the Bailiffs of Colchefter, in 
the Mote Hall.* They were then condemned to die, and shortly 
afterwards Bonner sent down a writ for their execution. They 
were burnt on the 2nd of August. c Between six and seven of 
the clock in the morning,' says Fox, c were brought from Mote 
Hall unto a plot of ground hard by the town wall of Colchester, 
on the outward side, William Bougeour,f William Purcas, 
Thomas Benhold, Agnes Silverside, Helen Ewring, and Eliza- 
beth Fowkes. When all the six were nailed at their stakes, 
and the fire about them, they clapped their hands for joy in 
the fire, that the standers by, which were by estimation 
thousands, cried generally almost, The Lord strengthen them ! 
the Lord comfort them ! the Lord pour his mercies upon 
them ! with such like words, as were wonderful to hear.' J 

In the afternoon of the day, the Munts, Johnson, and Allen, 
were brought forth into the caflle yard, which 'godly conftant 
persons, after they had made their prayers, and were joyfully 
tied to the stakes, calling upon the name of God, and exhorting 
the people earnestly to flee from idolatry, suffered their martyr- 
dom with such triumph and joy, that the people did no less 
shout thereat to see it, than at the others that were burnt the 
same day in the morning.' 

Margaret Thurfton was reserved because of some expectations 
which she encouraged that she might recant; and Agnes Bou- 
geour was reserved because of an error in the writ. When 
Agnes Bougeour found that she was separated from her fellow- 



* Chadsey. He had also abjured Popery as bailiff in 1543 — 1549. S. Maynard, 

in the reign of Edward VI., and that after 1 551 and 1560. Morant's MSS. 
having made himself exceedingly promi- f The regifter of the parish of St. 

nent as a Papist. He was now on a Nicholas, Colchefter, contains the follow- 

special commiffion to Colchefter. Strype, ing entry: — 1543, Richard Bougeaur, the 

E. M. ii. i. 64; hi. ii. 126 ; Cranmer, son of William, was baptized the 19th of 

2445 Wood, Ath. Ox. i. 136, which August, 
compare with Strype. Brown also appears J Fox viii. 392. 



Colchester, Maldon, Great Bentley. 51 

prisoners, and was not to die with them, she wept: c so little 
did she look for life, so greatly did God's grace work in her 
above nature, that death seemed a great deal better welcome than 
life.' Margaret Thurston soon recovered her former steadfaftness, 
and by the time that the writ had been amended, she was also 
'ready to be offered up.' The two women were burnt together 
on the 17th of September. 'When they came to the place in 
Colchefter where they should suffer, .... they fell down 
upon both their knees and made their humble prayers unto the 
Lord, which thing being done, they rose and went to the stake 
joyfully, and were immediately thereto chained ; and, after the 
fire had compassed them about, they with great joy and glorious 
triumph gave up their souls, spirits, and lives into the hands 
of the Lord.'* 

Shortly before these martyrdoms at Colchefter, Boswell, 
writing to Bonner from Maldon, speaks of six persons whom 
Kingston had succeeded in persuading to recant — Elizabeth 
Wood, Chriftian Hare, Rose Fletcher, Joan Kent, Agnes 
Stanley, and Margaret Simson. + 

In the April of this year another of Tye's victims was sent 
up to Bonner — Ralph Allerton. Allerton was also of the 
parish of Great Bentley. He had been apprehended previously 
about twelve months before this, when he was prevailed upon 
to recant. On that occasion he confessed that — ' Coming into 
his parish church and seeing the people sitting there either 
gazing about or else talking together, he exhorted them that 
they would fall on prayer and meditation of God's most Holy 
Word. Then, after prayers, he read unto them a chapter of the 
New Testament, and so departed.' For this he was 'con- 
strained to keep himself in woods, in barns, and other solitary 
places, under the fear of apprehension.' After his recantation 
he was 'raised up again,' God 'giving unto him not only 
hearty and unfeigned repentance, but also a most conftant 
boldness to profess again (even unto the death) His most Holy 
Name and glorious Gospel.' He was sent up to Bonner, by 

* Fox viii. 420, 421. f Fox viii. 588. 

E 2 



52 Chelmsford \ Colchester. 

Tye, on the '8th of this month. After his remand he wrote an 
account of his examination 'with blood for lack of other ink/ 
which is publifhed by Fox. Allerton again appeared before 
Bonner on the 7th of July; on the 10th he was condemned 
to die; and on the 18th of September he was burnt, in com- 
pany with Rothe and two others, at Islington.* 

Some time in this year there was another sufferer for the 
Gospel's sake in Essex. This was George Eagles. This 
man, 'as before in the days of King Edward VI. , he had 
not unfruitfully shewed and preached the force and power of 
the Lord, so afterward .... driying about .... lodging 
sometimes in the country, and sometimes, for fear, liying in 
fields and woods. For his 'immoderate and unreasonable going 
about' he was called ( Trudgeoyer.' He was discoyered in 
Colchester, ' upon Mary Magdalen's day, when there was a 
fair in the town,' apprehended, and committed to the prison 
there, whence four days afterwards he was taken to Chelmsford. 
The next day he was carried to London, and was then brought 
down to Chelmsford again to be tried at the sessions on the 
charge of treason. On that charge he was sentenced to be 
hung, drawn, and quartered. He was 'laid upon a sledge 
with a hurdle on it, and drawn to the place of execution, 
being first bound, haying in his hand a Psalm-book, of the 
which he read ven' devoutly all the way with a loud voice. . . 
After he had hanged a small time, having a great check with 
the halter, immediately one of the bailiffs cut the halter asunder 
and he fell to the ground being still alive. . . . Then one 
William Swallow, of Chelmsford, a bailiff, did draw him to 
the sled that he was drawn thither on, and laid his neck 
thereon, and with a cleaver .... did hackle off his head and 
did foullv mangle him, and so opened him. Notwithstanding, 
this blessed martyr of Chrift stood steadfait and constant in the 
midft of his torments, till such time as his tormentor, William 
Swallow, did pluck the heart out of his body. The bodv, 
being divided in four parts and his bowels burnt, was brought 

* Strype, Ecc. Mem. iii. ii. 63. 



Harwich^ Dedham, Colchester^ Roehedge. 53 

to the foresaid Swallow's door, and there laid upon the fifh 
stalls .... till they made ready a horse to carry his quarters, 
one to Colchefter, and the rest to Harwich, Chelmsford, and 
St. Osyth. His head was set up at Chelmsford, in the 
market cross, on a long pole, and there stood^ till the wind did 
blow it down ; and lying certain days in the street, tumbled 
about, one carried it to be buried in the churchyard in 
the night/ * 

During the whole of this fearful period there were not 
wanting many who made it their special mission to travel about 
the country for the purpose of l visiting the professors of the 
gospel, and comforting and exhorting them to steadfastness in 
the faith.' Among these were Laurence, of 'Barne Hall,' and 
John Barry, his servant ; William Pulleyn, otherwise known 
as Smith; and 'William a Scot,' who dwelt, Fox says, c at 
Dedham Heath.' These also regularly miniftered to a con- 
gregation at the King's Head, Colchefter, which conftantly 
assembled during the whole period of the persecution, c and as 
a candle upon a candlestick, gave light to all those who for the 
comfort of their consciences came to confer there from divers 
parts of the realm. 'f 

The wretched reign of Mary was now rapidly drawing to a 
close ; but still the fiery persecution raged with unabated 
fury. It was evident, however, that violence was defeating 
itself. Many began to c make songs ' against the government 
because of this. One Cornet, c a minstrel's boy, being at a 
wedding at Roehedge, near Colchefter, and being bid to sing 
some song out of the Scripture, he sang instead one of these.' 
For this he was committed into custody, brought before the 
Earl of Oxford, and was ' whipped for his pains.' % 

The Queen and Bonner still moved on. In April, 1558, by 
virtue of a commission from the Bifhop and some warrants 

* Fox viii. 396. I Strype, Ecc. Mem. iii. ii. 124. The 

f Strype, E. M. iii. ii. 285. See an accuser of this boy was Thomas Yaxley, 

interefting account of the congregation at then Rector of Eaft Doniland. Yaxley 

the King's Head. Strype's Annals, ii. ii. was at leaft confiftent. He was deprived 

283 — 286. in 1562. Fox viii. 578 ; Newc. ii. 215. 



54 Colchester^ Harwich. 

also from the Council, Chadsey and two of Bonner's chaplains 
came down to Colchefter and Harwich ' to examine heretics, 
and to condemn them to be burnt,' bringing with them a letter 
from the Bishop to Lord Darcy c to countenance and further on 
this business.' Strype says ' that on their firft coming down 
they examined six one day and condemned them the next, and 
so were making quick work with many more. . . . But by 
the providence of God . . . while these bloodv men were 
very earnest at their cruel business, the Council sent for the 
chief of them (Chadsey) up to court immediately. Chadsey 
remonftrated, alleging, c we be now in the myddefr. of our 
examination .... and if we should give it up ... . we 
should set the country in such a rore that my eftimation shall 
be for ever lost. . . . Would to God,' he adds, 'the honourable 
Council saw the face of Essex as we do see. We have such 
obftinate heretics, anabaptifts, and other unruly persons here 
as never was heard of.' 

Notwithstanding this remonstrance the Council persisted, 
and Chadsey was obliged to return to London. But, after their 
colleagues had left them, the other two still followed their 
work. On the 22nd of April, 1558, they write to Bonner : 
' Yesterday, being Thursday, we finifhed the examination 
of three obftinate and cumberous heretics ; for one of them 
held us all the forenoon, and the other two all the after- 
noon. This morning, being Friday, we intended to finifh the 
examination of the other three, and at afternoon to pronounce 
sentence of them all. There is little hope in them. The 
officers of this town be very diligent with us, and the under 
shereve. To-morrow ... we intend to ride to Harwich.' * 

As the first fruits of this commission, three persons were 
brought to the stake at Colchester on the 27th of May : Wil- 
liam Harris, Richard Day, and Christian George. This last 
was the second wife of Richard George, whose first wife had 
been burnt at Stratford. c These three good souls being brought 
to the stake, and having joyfully and fervently made their 

* Strype, Ecc. Mem. iii. i. 125, 126. 



Colchester. 55 

prayers unto the Lord, were settled in their places and chained 
unto their posts, and when the fire flamed fiercely round about 
them, they, like constant Christians, triumphantly praised God 
within the same, and offered up their bodies a lively sacrifice 
unto His Holy Majesty, in whose habitation they have now 
their everlasting tabernacle.' * 

Shortly afterwards Richard George married a third time, and 
in November he and his wife were also imprisoned for con- 
science sake. While they were in prison they had for their 
companions one Edward Grew, priest, and Appline, his wife, 
who had been compelled to fly from their dwelling at a town 
called ' Broke,' and had now fallen into the hands of Bonner's 
officer in Essex ;+ and before the month of November six more 
had found their way into the same prison; John Pilgrim, James 
Wilson, Elizabeth Young, and three others. J 

On the 17th of November the wretched Queen had gone to 
her laft account. 



* Fox viii. 467, 468. X Strype, Annals of the Reformation 

f Fox viii. 538. i. 55. 



CHAPTER IV. 
1558 — 1602. 



WITHIN a few hours after the death of Mary, Elizabeth 
was proclaimed as her successor. One of the new 
Queen's first acts was to issue her commands for the release of 
such prisoners for conscience sake as had been left by Mary in 
the different gaols of the kingdom. At Colchester there appears 
to have been ten if not more ; befides those just mentioned, Alice 
Michael, Chriftian Crampe and John Hoste. Concerning these a 
letter was addressed to William Cardinal and John Tey, who 
were directed to summon the Bailiff's of Colchefter, and ' to ex- 
amine for what causes ' they c were committed to their caftle,' 
and ' if they found there was no cause by law to detain them, 
then to set them at liberty, taking firft their own bonds to be 
forthcoming when they should be called to answer that which 
should be objected to them.' These bonds the prisoners at 
first refused to give, but they afterwards relented. The letter 
addressed to Cardinal and Tey bears date 21st Dec, 1558.* 

Encouraged by this and similar proceedings on the part of 
the Queen, many an earnest c gospeller ' who had hitherto 
concealed himself now came from his retirement and began 
openly to preach. But this was anything but grateful to 
Elizabeth. A proclamation was therefore issued on the 27th 
of December, to the effect that : c The Queen's Majesty, 
underftanding that there be certain persons, having in times 
past the office of ministry in the church, which do now 
purpose to use their former office in preaching, and partly 

* Cardinal was of Great Bromley. chefter were George Sayer and John 
Moranti. 441. Tey, of Aldham Hall. Beaft. Morant MSS. 
Morant ii. 197. The Bailiffs of Col- 



Colchester , Shoehury^ Great Bentley, West Mersea. 57 

have attempted the same, assembling .... in sundry 
places great numbers of people, hath therefore thought it 
necessary to . . . command . . . that they do forbear 
to preach, or to give credence to any manner of doctrine 
other than to the gospels and epistles of the day and to the 
ten commandments in the vulgar tongue without exposition 
.... added or to use any other manner of public prayer 
.... in the church, but that which is already used .... 
until consultation may be had by parliament ' . . . . and 
that ' if any shall disobediently use themselves to the breach 
hereof, her Majesty both must ' and would c see the same 
duly punished.' 

Among others who were afFected by this proclamation were 
c one Pullen,' c one Dodman, of Colchester,' and c one Thomas 
Pike, at Shoebury.' * Pike was probably a layman. His 
offence appears to have been the pulling down of certain 
images in the parifh church. For this he was complained of 
to the Council, who remitted his case to the Lord Rich, c no 
very good friend to Protestants, with instructions to see him 
punifhed according to the quality of his offence.' Pullen was 
probably William Pulleyn;f and his friend, the clergyman who 
was presented in the next year following by Grindal, then 
Bifhop of London, to the vicarage of Great Bentley, on the 
death of Thomas Tye, and to whom also the Queen gave the 
rectory of West Mersea, in 1560. J Their offence was that 
they had presumed to preach, for which they were apprehended 
and put in prison. A few days after these proceedings a letter 
was sent from the Council to Thomas Mildmay, the Bailiff of 
Colchester, and other c Justices of the Peace thereabout' . . . 
' to give orders .... for the apprehending of any others who 
had been guilty of similar offences.' || 

* Strype, Annals i. 63, 69, 70. Bailiffs of Colchefter were Robert Brown 

f Fox viii. 384 j Strype, Ecc. Mem. and Robert Northen. Morant MSS. 

ill _ ii. 64. Strype, Annals i. i. 63. Elizabeth was at 

\ Newcourt ii. 50, 414. least impartial in enforcing this proclama- 

|| Mildmay, afterwards Sir Thomas, tion. Several papifts were also appre- 

of Springfield Barnes. Morant ii. 9. The hended for the offence of preaching. 



58 JVlckham, Cipfird, Barking, Colchester. 

Within a month after the issue of the proclamation, 
Elizabeth had met her first parliament, which was convened for 
the 23rd of January. The .two most important measures now 
passed were ' An Act to restore to the Crown the ancient 
jurisdiction over the Estate Ecclesiastical and Spiritual;' and an 
c Act for the uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the 
Church, and Administration of the Sacraments.' Among 
other powers conferred upon the Crown bv the Act of 
Supremacy was one that gave rise to a new court, afterwards 
but too notorious as the Court of High Commission. The 
section under which this power was given is to the effect, that 
the Crown shall ; have full power and authority ... to 
assign ... to such persons . . . as (it) may think meet,' . . . 
1 to visit ... all heresies, schisms . . . whatsoever . . . 
provided only that they shall not have . . . power to . . . 
adjudge any matter to be heresy . . . but only such as here- 
tofore have been determined ... or such as hereafter shall 
be ordered . bv the High Court of Parliament . . . 

with the assent of the clergy in their convocation.'* The 
c Common Prayer ' sanctioned by the Act of Uniformity was 
the c book . . . authorized by parliament in the fifth and 
sixth years of the reign of Edward VI. 3 with one alteration 
and the addition of certain lessons ; l the form of the Litanv 
corrected : ' and two sentences added in the delivery of the 
Sacrament. The alterations in the lessons were of no 
moment \ but especially one of those that were made in the 
Litany was most ominous. In Edward's book there occurs the 
praver — c From the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome, and all his 
detested enormities . . . good Lord deliver us.' In Elizabeth's 



Among them were the following : John Walker, Redlor of St. Leonard's, Col- 

Morren, who held the livings of Wick- chefter Sttype, An. Li 675 Newc.fi. 

ham Biihops, and Copford, in this county, I "3. Walker afterwards conformed, and 

and who was also Rector of St. Martin's, became Archdeacon of Stafford and Derbv. 

Ludgate, in the City of London. S rype, He was a member of the Convocation of 

Annals i. i. 62. 5 Newcourt i. 147. John 1562. Strvpe, An. i. 489, 505. 

Gregyll, Vicar of Barking. Strvpe, An. * 1. Elizabeth c. i. 17, iS, 36. 
i. i. 65 ; Newc. ii. 35. And Peter 



The New Prayer Book. 59 

this prayer was omitted. Scarcely less so were the additions 
made to the communion service. In Edward's book the minifler 
is directed to say, ' when he delivereth the bread, c Take and eat 
this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him 
in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving ; ' and in delivering the 
cup, c Drink this in remembrance that Chrift's blood was shed 
for thee, and be thankful.' Now he was to add, in delivering 
the bread, c The body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was 
given for thee, preserve thy body and soul, into everlasting 
life;' and in delivering the cup, cc The blood of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul into 
everlasting life.' These two sentences were at least consistent 
with the doctrine of the c Real Presence.' * The Act of Uni- 
formity further enacted, that c such ornament of the church and 
oftheminifter shall be retained as was .... in the second year 
of Edward VI., until other order shall be taken by the Queen's 
Majefty ; ' and under this clause of the Act, the Queen took 
upon herself to make another alteration in the communion 
service. Edward's book had enjoined, c That the minister at 
the time of the communion, and at all other times, in his minis- 
trations, shall use neither alb, vestment, or cope.' But 
Elizabeth enjoined him to use c such vestments as were in use 
in 1547.' t It was also enacted, c That if any persons .... 
speak anything in the derogation, depraving, or despising of the 
same book, or of anything therein contained .... he should, 
for the first offence, be fined one hundred marks ; for the second, 
four hundred marks ; and for the third, forfeit to the Queen all 
his goods and chattels, and suffer imprisonment during his life ; 
and that any minister so offending, should, for the first ofFence, 
forfeit a year's income and suffer imprisonment for six months ; 
for the second, be deprived and suffer imprisoned for one whole 
year ; and for the third, be deprived and suffer imprisonment 
during his life.' J 

* Strype, An.i. i. 123, 124. Liturgies f Eliz. ii. 25. Strype, An. i. i. 123. 

of Edward VI. and Liturgical Services of Liturgical Services of (^Elizabeth. 
(^Elizabeth's P. Soc. Procter, Hift. of J 1. Eliz. ii. 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, II. 

Common Prayer 56. 



60 Copford, Aldham, Kelvedon Hatch , Burjied^ Hadleigh. 

Such measures offered but few obftacles to the clergy who 
were already beneficed. Indeed, the Pope himself expressed 
his willingness to endorse the liturgy. Strype says, that c Of 
nine thousand four hundred ecclefiastics, but one hundred and 
seventy-seven left their livings, and of these only eighty were 
rectors of churches.' I cannot find that more than three 
persons were deprived in Essex : John Morren, of Copford ; 
John Kingston, of Aldham ; and John Baker, of Kelvedon 
Hatch. And with regard to the laity, Heylin says, c The book 
was made so passable among the papists, that they generally 
repaired to their parifh churches without doubt or scruple.' * 
But to the c gospellers/ the new Act of Uniformity soon 
proved to be a grievous stumbling-block. 

By this time many of those who had taken refuge on the 
Continent during the unhappy reign of Mary were returning 
home. During their absence, most of them c had learned the 
way of the Lord more perfectly,' and these were naturally more 
than disappointed at what they found awaiting them. Many of 
them were offered Bifhoprics but refused them, as Miles 
Coverdale and David Whitehead ; f and others, though they 
accepted office, did so with much reluctance. J Shortly after 
the passing of the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, the 
Queen issued a series of injunctions preparatory to a royal 
visitation. These injunctions required, among other things, 
that within three months every parifh should be provided with 
' one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English;' 
and, within twelve months, with c the Paraphrase of Erasmus 
also ;' and further, c that all shrines .... and all other monu- 
ments of superftition should be deftroyed.'|| There were also 

* Strype, An. i. i. 339; Camden, Annals of E. Bible i. 185; Brooks, Lives 

Elizabeth in Complete Hift. of England of the Puritans i. 117), and Whitehead 

ii. 384; Hallam's Const. Hift. i. 1985 was Curate at Hadleigh. Strype, Cran- 

Fifher's Revifion of the Liturgy, 155, 198. mer 393. 

■f Coverdale was a preacher at Bum- J Neal, Hift. of Puritans i. 99, a. d. 

ftead, and about the same time 1837. 

also at Great Burftead. He had been J. Strype, An. i. i. 245 ; Cardwell 

made Bifhop of Exeter by Edward VI. Documentary Annals i. 209, 231. 
and was deposed by Mary, (Anderson, 



The Queen's Injunctions. 61 

appended to these injunctions, among other c admonitions,' the 
following : c Whereas Her Majefty underftandeth that in many 
.... parts the altars of the churches be removed, and tables 
set for the administration of the Holy Sacrament, and in some 
other places the altars be not removed .... it is ordered 
.... that the holy tables in every church be .... set 
in the place where the altars stood .... and so to stand, save 
when the communion of the sacrament is to be distributed, at 
which time the same shall be so placed .... as the minister 
may be more conveniently heard .... and the communicants 
also more conveniently, and in more number 'communicate 
with the said minister. And after the communion, from time to 
time, the same holy table to be placed where it stood before.' * 
The vifitation took place about Midsummer, 1559, and those 
who conducted it, with the exception of Parker, Grindal, and 
William May, were all laymen, f After the royal vifitation 
had been completed, the vacant Archiepiscopal See of Canter- 
bury was filled up by the consecration of Matthew Parker on 
the 9th of December, 1559. % One of Parker's first acts was, 
in conjunction with the other bifhops of his province, to issue 
a paper of 'interpretations' of the Queen's injunctions; two of 
which were as follows : ' That there be used only but one 
apparel, as the cope in the ministration of the sacraments, and 
the surplice in all other ministrations : ' and ' that the table 
be moved out of the choir into the body of the church before 
the church door, when either the choir seemeth to be too little 
or at great feasts of receivings.' Both of these interpretations, 
as well as the injunctions to which they relate, afterwards 
became of great importance. 

The reorganization of the hierarchy was now rapidly 
proceeded with. In this diocese Edmund Grindal had already 



* Cardwell, Documentary Annals i. I suppose ;' but no such name appears in 

2 33> 2 34- Newcourt's lists of the Incumbents of 

f Cardwell i. 256. either of the Bradwells in this county. 

% Strype, in enumerating Parker's early It is more probable that Parker was bene- 

preferments, speaks of him as having been ficed at Bradwell, in Cambridgefhire. 
Reftor of Brad well, adding 'That in Essex 



62 They don Garnon ^ High Ongar, Copford. 

been consecrated bishop, on the 2ist of July, previous to the 
consecration of Parker. The deanery of St. Paul's, vacant by 
the deprival of Henry Cole, had been filled up by the re- 
appointment of William May, who had been deprived by 
Mary : and the archdeaconries of London, Essex, and Col- 
chefter, which were vacant by the deprivals of John Harpsfleld, 
Thomas Darbyshire, and John Standish, were severally filled — 
that of London by John Mullens, who was also Rector of 
Theydon Garnon, and who afterwards became one of the Deans 
of Bocking ; that of Essex by Thomas Cole, Rector of High 
Ongar, and afterwards also Rector of Stamford Rivers ; and 
that of Colchefter by John Pulleyn, who soon became also 
Rector of Copford. Mullens, Cole, and Pulleyn had all 
three of them been exiles in the reign of Mary, and during 
their absence had each of them more or less sided with the 
more advanced of the Reformers.* 

Elizabeth dissolved her firft parliament on the 8th of May, 
1559. Her second afTembled on the nth of Jan., 1562. On 
the same day the convocation of the clergy of the province of 
Canterbury met in the chapter house of St. Paul's. This body 
having framed the thirty-nine articles — to which there seems 
to have been no great difficulty in securing the subscriptions of 
any but those who, secretly at least, were papists rather than 
proteftants — a paper was brought into the Upper House by 
Edwyn Sandys, then Bifhop of Worcefter, praying that c Her 
Majefty might be moved that private baptism and baptism by 
women might be taken from the Common Prayer Book ; that 
the cross in baptism may be disallowed .... and that 
measures might be taken to set down ecclesiastical orders and 
rules in all matters.' And this was soon followed by another, 

* May had held the sinecure Reclory of merits he retained until his death in June, 

Littlebury, 1538 — 1553- Newc. iii. 394. 1591- Newc. i. 637, 92 ; Orig. Letters, 

Standish had been Rector of Paglesham. Parker Society 751 ; Zurich Letters, 

New. i. 92. Mullens was collated to the P. S. ii. 307; ib. i. 2565 Brooks, Lives 

prebend of Kentish Town in 1559; in i. 114 — 116; Strype, Whitgift i. 245; 

1561 to Theydon Garnon ; and in 1587 Cooper, Ath. Cant. i. 295, 558; Pulleyn, 

to Bocking. He was also canon resi- Wood Ath. Ox. i. 148. 
dentiary of St. Paul's. All which prefer- 



Bocking, Laingdon-cum-Basildon. 63 

which was presented at the request of thirty-three members of 
the Lower House, praying c That the Psalms ... be sung 
by the whole congregation ; that none be suffered to baptize 
but minifters only,' and ' that they also may leave off the sign 
of the cross :' that c in the time of miniftering the communion 
kneeling may be left indifferent ;' that c the use of copes 
and of surplices may be taken away ;' that c ministers be not 
compelled to wear such gowns and caps as the enemies of 
ChrifVs gospel have chosen to be the special array of their 
priesthood \ that c the words in Art. XXXIII. concerning 
those who do not in all things conform in matters of ceremony 
may be mitigated ;' and that c all saints, feafts, and holy days 
may be mitigated.' Among the signatures to this last are those 
of John Mullens, John Pulleyn, Thomas Watts, then Arch- 
deacon of Middlesex, and afterwards the successor of John 
Mullens, in the deanery of Bocking \ and James Calfhill, 
afterwards Rector of Bocking, and also Archdeacon of Col- 
chester.* Both of these papers were rejected. On the 13th 
of February, another paper was debated in the Lower House, 
which was much to the same effecT: with those which had 
already been rejected in the Upper ; and on a division being taken 
it appeared that of those who were present forty-three were in 
its favour, while but thirty-eight were against it. But when 
the proxies of those who were absent came also to be reckoned, 
it was found that the paper was negatived by a majority of one. 
By that single voice, and that the voice of an absent member, 
proposals were again rejected, which, if they had been received, 
much of the strife which now immediately ensued would have 
been happily escaped. In the minority, we find Thomas 
Watts, John Walker, afterwards Rector of Laingdon-cum- 
Bafildon and Archdeacon of Essex, John Pulleyn, and James 
Calfhill. f Thomas Cole with others was unhappily absent, 
and either withheld or neglected to send their proxies, or the 
majority would have been reversed. 

* Strype A. i. i. 501, 502 ; Watts, f Strype, A. i. i, 504; Walker, 

Nevvcourt i. 82, 92 ; Cooper Ath. Cant. Nevvcourt i. 73; Cooper, Ath. Cant. 

1. 365; Calfhill, Wood Ath. Ox. i. 1635 ii. 37. 
Cooper i. 285. 



64 Stifled^ Bo eking. 

The convocation afterwards submitted certain propositions 
to the parliament, which were subsequently embodied in their 
Acts. Among them were the following: ' That all manner of 
persons, with their household servants, shall frequent their own 
parifh church at the time of common prayer, and there to 
remain during the whole time of the same ; and also shall receive 
the holy communion .... so oft as is appointed by the book 
of service ; and that, if any person .... be found notably to 
transgress his duty .... as it is prescribed, in addition to 
being fined, he shall be treated as a person excommunged 
i . . . and be discharged of the benefit of the gracious 
Majesty's laws, and be made unable to sue or hold plea in any 
of the courts of the realm.' * 

Not long after the convocation had been dismissed, Richard 
Kitchen, who had recently been presented by Parker to the 
Rectory of Stifled, came into collision with one Holland, a 
Curate of Bocking, and John Nowell, the Dean of Booking, 
on certain matters which they felt to be objectionable in his 
practice, f Holland had taken him to task in his own pulpit 
at Stisted, for accompanying his parifhioners in their periodical 
c perambulations,' and also for denouncing c preaching on such 
subjects as predestination and the like ;' and Nowell had 
reproved him for ' turning his face to the east when reading 
divine service.' Kitchen appealed to his patron, complaining 
to him especially of Holland, and at the same time informed 
the Archbifhop that there was ' great liberty used among the 
clergy ' of his neighbourhood, c in varying from the appoint- 
ments of the church ;' £ that some conferred baptism in basins, 
some in dishes, rejecting the use of the font; some held there 
must be seven godfathers ; some would either that every father 
should chriften his own child, or at leaft admit him to be chief 
godfather . . . some detefted the surplice in miniftration ; and 
that in Bocking it had been laid a-water (as he expressed it) 
many a day.' J This coming to the ear of Elizabeth, she imme- 
diately wrote to Parker, charging him to see to the suppression 

*' Strype, Annals i. 529. J Strype, Parker i. 303 — 306. 

j Kitchen, Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 291. 



Stifled. 65 

of all nonconformity throughout his province ; adding — 
' For wee intend to have no dissension or variety grow .... 
for so the sovereign authority which wee have under Almighty 
God, should bee violate and made frustrate, and wee might bee 
thought to bear the sword in vain. And in the execution 
hereof wee require you to use all expedition that to such a cause 
as this is shal seem necessary, that hereafter wee bee not occa- 
sioned, for lack of your diligence, to provide such further 
remedy, by some other sharp proceedings, as shall per case not 
bee easie to bee born by such as be disordered.' * 

Thus encouraged by the Queen, Parker soon bestirred 
himself, and a general persecution of the Puritans forthwith 
commenced. One of the firft to suffer was the venerable 
Miles Coverdale. Some time after his refusal of a bifhopric, 
he had been presented by Edmund Grindal, his former 
companion in exile, with the poor living of St. Magnus, in 
the city of London. Although he had assisted at the con- 
secration of Parker, he was compelled to refign his living, 
and ever afterwards remained without any , ecclefiaftical 
preferment until his death, at the age of eighty, in January, 
1568. f 

The High Commission also took in hand to suppress the 
separate congregations of dissenters, which were now being 
constantly augmented by those who had been driven or dis- 
couraged from the communion of the Establishment. One such 
congregation was disturbed at Plumber's Hall, in the city of 
London, on the 19th of June, 1567. Their number was con- 
siderable. The greater part of them were imprisoned. After 
remaining in Bridewell for a year, twenty-seven of them were 
released ; the rest, however, seem to have remained there some- 
what longer. The principles professed by this community, it is 
now plain, were substantially those of the Congregationalists. 
Their pastor was Richard Fitch, and they also had a deacon, 

* Strype, Parker iii. p. 68. The f Neal i. 124. Brooks' Lives of 

whole letter, commencing p. 65, will the Puritans i. 127. Strype, Parker i. 
repay reading. 480. 






66 Chelmsford. 

Thomas Rowland.* To complete the overthrow of the Puritans 
it was still necessary to command the Universities, and especially 
that of Cambridge. There was a power lodged in the University 
of Cambridge to license twelve preachers yearly to preach 
anywhere throughout England, ' without obtaining license 
from any other.' Parker appealed to the Chancellor that this 
privilege might be removed. In this, however, he ultimately 
failed, and Cambridge — which was already a stronghold of 
Puritanism — continued to exercise it, greatly to the advan- 
tage of the gospel throughout the country, f It was chiefly 
under this privilege that the lecturers, who shortly played 
so important a part in the great controversy of the age, 
were able to find admission to the ministry and to hold their 
ground. 

The gentry proved more pliable than the Univerfities. 
On the 25th of December, 1569, Sir Thomas Goldinge, 
Sheriff of Essex, and others who had been specially con- 
vened at Chelmsford on the 20th of November pre- 
viously, addressed the Council in the following 'declaration': 
' Our humble duties done unto your lordfhips ; this is 
to signifie that wee whose names are underwritten doe 
knowledge that it is our bounden duty to observe the 
contente of the Act of Parliament, entitled, ' An Act for 
uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the Church ;' 
and the AS: of the supremacy ; and for observance of the same 
lawes, we doe hereby freely promys that every of us and 
our famylies . . . shall repaire to our parifh churches, or 
to other usual chappells . . . and there shall decentlye 
and duly heare and take parte of the same common prayer, 
and all other Divine Service, and shall receyve the Holy 
Sacrament from tyme to tyme, according to the order of the 
said AcT: of Parliament ; nayther shall any of us . . . doe, 
saye ... or suffer anything to be done or sayde by our privity 

* Strype, Parker i. 481, Hiftorical so, the William White of the Hiftorical 

Papers, firft series, 1 — 16. It is evidently Papers might possibly be the Rector of 

of the leaders in this community that Shering of that date. Newc. ii. 624. 
Fuller speaks. Ch. Hift. ii. 481. If f Strype, Parker i. 382. 



) 



Strethall, Saffron Walden. by 

. . . in contempt of anie parte of religion eftablifhed by the 
foresaid A£r.s.' This declaration was signed by nearly seventy 
of the leading men of the county.* 

In 157 1 Elizabeth met her third Parliament, when an 
acl: was passed f c For the Minifters of the Church to be 
of sound religion,' which incorporated thirty-eight of the 
thirty-nine Articles of 1562 with the statutes of the realm, 
and required subscription to them on the part of all the 
clergy, on pain of immediate deprivation. It is remarkable 
that the omitted Article should have been the twentieth, 
but the reason probably is, that the Queen was too jealous 
of the power which she possessed under ss. 25.26 of the 
Acl: of Uniformity even to appear to part with it. c These 
Articles now being legally confirmed, the bifhops began the 
urging thereof more severely than before ; which made many 
dissenters keep their private meetings in woods, fields, their 
friends' houses, &c.'| 

Among other places in which these meetings were held, was 
Strethall, in this county. Robert Sharp, who was presented to 
the rectory in 1572, seems to have countenanced them. 
Strype says that ' they were found to be indeed innocent, well- 
disposed people, that met together on holydays . . . only 
to read and confer the Scriptures, and to inform and confirm 
one another in their chriftian duty ; and to edify themselves 
in the knowledge of God, thinking thereby to spend their time 
better than others ... at cards, dice, or tables, or sitting at 
ale-houses.' They were, nevertheless, informed againft, and 
brought before Andrew Perne, c parson of Balfham, in Cam- 
bridgeshire.' || There was also another congregation of a similar 
character at Saffron Walden. This was informed againft by 

* S. P. O. Dom. Ser. Eliz. ix. 53. J Fuller, Church Hift. ii. 471, 503. 

Golding was of Belchamp, St. Paul's. The twentieth article is to the effect that 

He 'was one of the Commissioners for 'The Church hath power to decree rites 

certifying the Chantry lands in Essex, or ceremonies, and authority on contro- 

and he knew well how to improve that versies of faith.' 

opportunity by getting a large share of || Strype, Ann. ii. i. 556 ; Parker ii. 

them.' Morant ii. 228. 340, 380 — 385 ; Newc. ii. 565. 

f l Eliz. xii. 

F 2 






68 MaIdon y Ulting. 

one Bird, who c seems to have been some minifter in or about 
that town.' * 

In 1575, Archbifhop Parker died, and was succeeded at 
Canterbury by Edmund Grindal, Bifhop of London. Grindal 
was succeeded in the diocese of London by John Aelmer, 
Elmer, or Aylmer, of whom Newcourt says, that c he was a 
great enemy to the Puritan faction,' adding, that he c was much 
hated by them.' f During his episcopate, Essex became as 
diftinguifhed for its Puritans as it had been for its Gospellers 
under Bonner, in the reign of Mary. 

In 1576, John Coppin had been committed to prison at 
Bury St. Edmund's, for his disobedience to the ecclesiaftical 
laws, and had then, or shortly afterwards, for his companions 
in trouble, Elias Thacker and Thomas Gibson. In 1578, 
John Gill, of Barly, in Essex, clerk, deposed against Coppin 
that he should say c that whoever keepeth any saint's day 
appointed by the Book of Common Prayer is an idolater ; ? and 
further c that the Queen was sworn to keep God's law, and she 
is perjured.' These three good men were all of them Con- 
gregationalists. After long imprisonment, they were arraigned 
at the assizes held in Bury in the month of July, 1583, when 
they were condemned to die, not on the charge of treason, but 
only on that c of dispensing Browne's books and Harrison's 
books.' This was done by the judges in obedience to a 
letter from the Council, charging them to be severe with 
all nonconformifls. Elias Thacker and Thomas Gibson were 



* Strype, Ann. ii. ii. 65 ; Whitgift i. tradesmen .... employed a fellow to 

151. This was Richard Bird. Cooper, go into the church besmeared like a fool, 

Ath. Cant. ii. 521. to snatch the bifhop's hat from his head, 

f Aylmer had been tutor to Lady Jane and after twirling it round on his finger to 

Grey. He was an exile in the reign of toss it into the midst of the people. . . . 

Mary. While abroad he assisted Fox in The bifhop was apprised of this design, 

preparing the Englifh edition of the Acts and committed the principal contrivers of 

and Monuments. He sat in the convo- it to prison.' Aylmer died in 1594. 

cation of 1562., and was one of those Newc. i. 27. Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 168. 

who were absent when the Puritan move- At his death Aylmer was possessed of 

ment was defeated. Aylmer narrowly eftates at Ulting. Morant ii. 136. 
escaped a serious insult at Maldon. ' Some 



Colchester , Ahherton, Purleigh^ Rochford. 69 

hanged on the Thursday after their sentence, and John Coppin 
on the next day following. The Lord Chief Juftice, writing 
to the Lord Treasurer to inform him of the execution of these 
martyrs, adds : c There were also five minifters convicted for 
dispraising the Book of Common Prayer.' * . . . One of these 
minifters was Oliver Pigg. Pigg had been Vicar of St. 
Peter's, and also Re&or of All Saint's, in Colchefter, from 
1569 to 1570, in which laft year he removed to the Rectory of 
Abberton, where he continued until 1578. On his removal 
from Abberton he was beneficed in the diocese of Norwich. 
The then Bifhop of Norwich was Edmund Freake, a native 
of Essex, who had held the Rectory of Purleigh from 1567 
to 1575. f Pigg na d been committed on the charge of putting 
the queftion in the Baptismal Service, ' Doft thou believe ? ' 
not to the child, as directed in the Book of Common Prayer, 
but to the parents. His remand was owing to some infor- 
mality. Before the next assizes Pigg conformed, and after 
some little trouble, he was discharged. J We afterwards hear 
of him, however, again in Hertford mi re, and as an active 
member of the Puritan party. 

While the Bury martyrs were awaiting their trial, Robert 
Wright and Lord Rich were apprehended at Rochford, as men 
that were guilty of holding similar opinions. Robert Wright 
had been tutor to the Earl of Essex, Lord Rich's brother-in- 
law. Having scruples about ordination in the Church of 
England, he had gone to Antwerp, where Thomas Cartwright 
was now settled, to seek ordination. This was in 158 1. 
Shortly after his ordination he received an invitation from 
Lord Rich to become his domeftic chaplain at Rochford. 

* Strype, An. ii.ii. 186 ; iii. 268, 269. deacon of Canterbury. He was made 

Hiftorical Papers 42, 44. Browne, Han- Eifhop of Norwich in 1575. Freake 

bury Memorials relating to the Inde- was translated to Worcefter in 1584. 

pendents, i. 18 st. seqq. Harrison ib. 164. He died 1590. Cecily, his widow, was 

-f- Freake was originally a canon of the buried at Purleigh. Cooper, Ath. Cant, 

order of St. Augustine, in the Abbey of ii. 96 j Newc. ii. 476. 
Waltham. This was before 1539. He J Hift. Papers, 54 — 56; Cooper, 

was ordained by Bonner in the reign of Ath. Cant. ii. 147 j Strype, An. iii. i. 

Edward VI. In 1564 he became Arch- 691 ; ii. 479. 



( 



JO Rochford. 

i He defired now to fill the paftoral office/ and expressed to 
Lord Rich the opinion that the c election of minifters ought to 
be by the flock or congregation.' With the concurrence of his 
patron a church was accordingly formed at Rochford Hall, 
and c signified their defire that Mr. Wright should take the 
oversight of them, and a service was held to implore the 
divine blessing on this new relation.' John Greenwood, 
afterwards co-paftor with Francis Johnson, and who suffered 
in company with Henry Barrow, at Tyburn, was also associated 
with him as assiftant chaplain. ' They did not withdraw 
themselves from the parish church, but held their meetings 
in the hall, usually at eight o'clock in the evening.' The 
mother of Francis, afterwards Lord Bacon, writing to Lord 
Burleigh, in 1584, says of these services : c I hear them in their 
public exercises as a chief duty commanded by God, and 
I also confess, as one that hath found mercy, that I have 
profited more in the inward feeling of God's holy will .... 
by such sincere and sound opening of the Scriptures .... 
than I did by hearing occasional services at Paul's, well 
nigh twenty years together.' * 

It soon came to the Queen's ear that ' there were disorders 
practised in Essex, and particularly in the house of Lord Rich ;' 
she therefore caused Aylmer to be told that it was her c com- 
mand to him to forbid them.' It appears that he had already 
made the attempt, but had been foiled. Accordingly he told the 
Queen £ that he had many great storms with the late Lord Rich, 
and that now lately the present Lord Rich, and his baflard 
uncle and another, came into his house at Fulham to solicit 
him to license Wright to preach in his diocese, and he had 

* Hift. Papers, 57, et seqq ; Strype, Greenwood, Hiftorical Papers 145 — 

Aylmer 54, et seqq. The Lord Rich 1775 Hanbury Memorials i. c. c. iii. 

was Richard, the second son of the first iv. ; Brooks' Lives ii. 25, 28, 41, 42. 

Lord of that name, and brother of Robert The Lady Bacon was the accomplifhed 

afterwards Earl of Warwick. Morant ii. wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon, and daughter 

102 } Strype, Aylmer 55 ; Hiftorical of Sir Anthony Cook, of Giddy Hall. 

Papers 59; Francis Johnson, Hiftorical In 1564 she translated Jewel's Apology 

Papers 121 et seqq Hanbury Memorials into Englifh. Strype, Parker i, 354. 
83 et seqq ; Hemy Barrow and John 



Southchurch) Althorne, Shopland, Lee, Rochford. 71 

refused to do so, but that the Lord's aforesaid uncle did here- 
upon so shake him up, that .... he was never so abused at 
any man's hands since he was born.' He was only too willing, 
however, to make another attempt, and now he was successful. 
Wright was apprehended and caft into the Fleet ; Rich was 
apprehended also, and with them both ' one Dix, another very 
disordered man.' Rich was cast into the Marshalsea, and Dix 
into the Gate House. The matters proved againft Wright' by 
deposition of certain witnesses,* by virtue of a commission 
sent down,' were ' that he calleth the preachers that followed the 
Book of Common Prayer c dumb dogs,' ' that ' the people were 
drawn away from a sermon at the church at Rochford by the 
tolling of a bell, to a sermon preached by him at the Hall ;' 
' that he found fault with the laws ecclesiaftical, and depraved 
the miniftry ;' and c that preachers were openly examined and 
rebuked for their sermons in a great audience in the Hall of 
the Lord Rich, by procurement of Wright.' Wright seems to 
have been removed from the Fleet to the Gate House. While 
there he, together with Lord Rich, who had also been removed 
in the meantime from the Marshalsea, addressed a joint petition 
to the Privy Council : c We do offer up our supplication unto 
your Lordships in the presence of the God of heaven .... 
that our cause might have access unto your wisdomes, and that 
we may be either released or condemned .... Befides the 
measures of our troubles .... and disgrace for the service 
which we have laboured to do both unto God and to her Majefty, 
we underftand, moreover, that grievous things are reported of 
us to her Highness, and such as might juftly offend her most 

gracious mind if this were true The queftion is 

not one of liberty only .... nor of our wealth, but of the 
favor of her Majefty .... we do, therefore, most humbly 



* The witnesses againft him were John wards, 1579 — 161 7, also Vicar of Dagen- 

Nicholson, Rector of Southchurch, and ham ; Edward (Edmund) Barker, Vicar 

afterwards Vicar of Althome ; Bernard of Prittlewell ; and together with others 

or Barnaby Turner, Vicar of Shopland ; who are not named, strange to say, 

John Bowden, Reftor of Lee ; John Arthur Dent, Redlor of South Shoebury. 

Berryman, Reftor of Rochford, after- Strype, Annals iii. i. 178. 



72 Rochford. 

fly unto your Lordships .... craving that it might please 
you to look into our afflicted case . . . . ' The petition is 
dated January 27th, 1582.* 

The keeper of the Gate House being a man that favored Puri- 
tanism, c having some secret word from the Secretary,' showed 
Wright much kindness while he was in his cuftody, and even 
went so far as to allow him to go into Essex to see his wife and 
child, f This soon came to the ears of the bishop, who threat- 
ened to complain to the Queen. Wright hereupon wrote to Lord 
Burleigh in the keeper's behalf, which led to a further, and, it 
should seem, a final inveftigation of the whole cause. Wright's 
letter to Burleigh bears date May 5. By September Wright 
was subdued, a fact which the bishop announced to the Lord 
Treasurer as follows : c I have perused the two articles where- 
unto Mr. Wright .... hath willingly subscribed to the 
good allowance of the miniftry of England, and the Book of 
Common Prayer .... unto both which points, if he can be 
content with his friends to stand bound in a good round sum, 
that from henceforth he shall neither commit to writing, nor 
preach anything contrary to the same, I, for my part, do not 
mislike that he shall have some favour.' This was on the 
nth of September. Wright was now released; Lord Rich 
was also set at liberty, if indeed he had not been before this. 
What became of Dix does not appear. % 

Towards the close of 1579, Richard, the natural uncle of 
Lord Rich, had also been committed to the Fleet. In the 
month of Augufl: John Stubbs, the brother-in-law of Thomas 
Cartwright, had published a pamphlet against the then pro- 
jected marriage of Elizabeth with the Duke of Anjou, an 
alliance which the Puritans generally regarded with the greateft 
alarm. The pamphlet was entitled, ' The Discoverie of a 
Gaping Gulf.' The Queen was so incensed against Stubbs, 

* Hiftorical Papers 58. J Strype, An. iii. i. 177, 180 ; ii. 228, 

-J- The secretary was Michael, after- 237 $ Strype, Aylmer 54, 575 Hift 

wards Sir Michael Hicks, secretary to Papers 57 — 63. 

Lord Burleigh. Strype, An. ii. i. 214. 



D anbury, Matching. 73 

that she issued a proclamation to suppress the pamphlet, and 
caused the author to be apprehended. On the 3rd of November, 
Stubbs and his printer, Page, 'had their right hands cut off 
with a cleaver driven through the wrifts with the force of a 
beetle, upon a scaffold in the market-place at Weftminfter.'* 
Notwithftanding the proclamation, Richard Rich had kept a 
copy of Stubbs' book in his possession, and had also favoured 
Stubbs himself. It was further alleged against him, that he 
' was a great favorer of one Dyke, who in his sermon inveighed 
againft statute-Proteftants, injuncT:ion-men, and such as love 
to jump with the law.' Richard Rich also obtained his release 
about the same time with his relative Lord Rich, and his 
friend Robert Wright, f 

In 1583 the Queen issued a commission, under which 
so many deprivals took place that strenuous efforts were 
made to prevail with Lord Burleigh to interfere. Among 
others that wrote to him was George Withers, who was now 
Rector of Danbury, and had been Archdeacon of Colchefter 
since the death of James Calfhiil, in 1570. Withers had been 
in exile in Geneva in the reign of Mary, and while there had 
contracted a firm friendship with the leaders of the reformation 
on the Continent. There are extant two letters of his in the 
c Second Series of the Zurich Letters,' one written by him, in 
conjunction with John Barthelot, to Henry Bullinger and 
Rodolph Gualter, both of which are of the greateft value. 
The firft is dated Auguft, 1567, and is a vindication of the 
nonconformifts from certain charges which had been made 
againft them by Grindal, then Bifhop of London, and Robert 
Horn, Bifhop of Winchefter, in a letter which they had 
previously written to the same good men. % And the second, 
which is 'without place or date,' was addreffed to Frederick 
III., the Prince Elector Palatine — a great friend of the 

* Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. no; Strype, Coggeshall $ Infra. Strype, Ann. iii. i. 

An. ii. ii. 155, 232, 239, 303, 3055 6915 ii. 479. 

Strype, Grindal 359, 594; Hallam, Con- J Horn had been Vicar of Matching 

stitutional Hist. i. 227. in the reign of Edward VI., 1546 — 1553. 

•f Dyke was probably William of Newc. i. 246. 



r 



74 D anbury. 

Calvinifts — not long before the issue of this commission. In 
this letter Withers draws a lamentable picture of the low con- 
dition into which the church had then already fallen. c The 
ministry,' he says, c is in fact nothing at all ; nor is there 
any discipline ; for those persons cannot be said to be minifliers 
of Chrift, but servants of men, who can do nothing according 
to the principles of the word, but are obliged to acl: in every 
respect at the nod of the Queen and the bifhops. . . . Moft 
of them are popifh priefts .... and the far greater part of 
the remainder are moft ignorant persons . . . . ; preaching is 
a privilege confined to the bifhops . . . . ; the sword of 
excommunication is taken out of the hands of the clergy and 
handed over to lawyers !'.... c If you possess any kind 
of influence with our moft serene Queen, we beg and entreat 
you to make use of it .... to heal these so great maladies 
of the church ; and to condemn, for evermore, the entire 
remembrance of popery. If you cannot .... obtain a 
more complete reformation of the whole church, you will, 
nevertheless, entreat .... for those who abominate the 
relics of Antichrift, the liberty of not being obliged either to 
adopt them, or to relinquifh their miniftry.'* 

George Withers had himself been a sufferer from the 
severities of the hierarchy. After his return from exile, he 
became a preacher at Bury St. Edmund's. While there he 
was deprived by Parker, in 1565, for not wearing the cap. 
At the earneft entreaty of his people, however, he submitted, 
and was reftored. Parker afterwards attempted to silence 
him for a sermon which he preached at Cambridge, but was 
foiled. He was presented to the living of Danbury by Sir 
Arthur Mildmay, of Danbury Place, the brother-in-law of Sir 
Francis Walsingham, and one of the Queen's privy council, 
in 1572. 

The letter which Withers now wrote to the Lord Treasurer 
is printed at length in the Appendix to the Third Volume of 
Strype's Annals, No. xxxiii., but does not appear to have had 

* Zurich Letters ii. 146, 156. 




Whitgiffs Articles 75 

much effect, for the persecution still went on, and in the next 
year following waxed even hotter than before. * 

On the 6th of July Grindal died, and on the 27th of August 
John Whitgift (who had been consecrated Bifhop of Worcester 
in April, 1577), was confirmed as his successor. Strype says, 
'The state of the church was evidently now but in a tottering 
condition, both from the Papists on the one hand, and the 

Proteftants on the other Among the Proteftants there 

were many of the minifters who undermined the present con- 
stitution of the church by disaffe&ing the people's minds 
against the Common Prayer Book ; . . . . and for the more 
secret doing this, there were meetings in private houses upon a 
pretended religious account ' f 

To such a man as the new Archbifhop a state of things 
like this was intolerable. In order to reftrain the Puritans, 
Whitgift, within a month after his consecration, together 
with eight other bifhops of his province, prepared and issued 
a series of articles, among which were the following: — 
' That all preaching, reading, catechising, and other such 
like exercises, in private places and families whereunto others 
do resort, being not of the same family, be utterly extin- 

guifhed That none be permitted to preach, read, 

and catechise, in the church or elsewhere, unless he do, 
four times in the year at least, say service and minister 
the sacraments according to the Book of Common Prayer.' 
Another article required a new subscription, without which 
none might ' be permitted to preach, read, catechise, minis- 
ter the sacraments, or to execute any other ministerial func- 
tions.' It was as follows : — 

C I. That Her Majesty, under God, hath and ought to have 
the sovereignty and rule over all manner of persons born within 
her realms and dominions and countries, of what estate, eccle- 
siastical or temporal, soever; and that none other foreign power, 



* Strype, Parker i. 374; Strype, Withers in Brooks' Lives, ii. 250, but see 
Parker i. 382; Morant ii. 4; Newc. ii. Wood, Fast. i. 95. 
205. There is a memoir of George \ Strype, Whitgift i. 228. 



76 TVhitgiffs Commission, 

prelate, state, or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, 
power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority, ecclesiastical or 
temporal, within Her Majesty's said realms, dominions, and 
countries. 

C II. That the Book of Common Prayer, and of ordering 
bifhops, priefts, and deacons, containeth in it nothing contrary 
to the Word of God ; and that the same may be lawfully used, 
and that he himself will use the form of the said book prescribed 
in public prayer and adminiftration of the Sacraments, and 
none other. 

'III. That he alloweth the Book of Articles of Religion 
agreed upon by Archbilhops and Bifhops in both provinces, 
and the whole Clergy, in the Convocation holden at London, 
in the year of our Lord 1562, and set forth by Her Majesty's 
authority, and that he believeth the Articles therein contained 
to be agreeable to the Word of God.' * 

The Archbifhop also procured from the Queen a new High 
Commission, for whose use he prepared 'twenty-four articles 
of examination,' so comprehensive as to embrace the whole 
scope of clerical uniformity, and yet so precise as to leave no 
room for evasion. Lord Burleigh, writing to Whitgift on the 
1 st of July, 1584, on the subject of these articles, says 
of them : — ' I . . . . find (them) so curiously penned, 
so ful of branches and circumftances, as I think the In- 
quisitors of Spain use not so many queflions to comprehend 
and to trap their preyes . . . . ; surely, under your Grace's 
correction, this judicial and canonical sifting of poor minifters 
is not to edify or reform; .... bear with my scribbling. 
I desire the peace of the Church ; . . . . 
this kind of proceeding is too much savouring of the 



* Cardwell says that in enforcing these maintained, that those articles, but those 

articles Whitgift acted on his own per- only, should be subscribed . . . and it is 

sonal authority. * The queftion was evident that it was intended to exclude the 

discussed whether the Archbifhop had not article connected with the authority and 

exceeded his powers. . . . The statute discipline of the church. Doc. Ann. i. 

13 El., c. 12, which ratified the thirty- 1535 Strype, Whitgift i. 229 — 231. 
nine articles, enacted, as the Puritans 



The Ex-officio Oath. yy 

Romish Inquisition, and is rather a device to seek offenders 
than to reform any.'* 

What rendered the administration of these articles more 
oppressive was the fact that the clergy were required to answer 
them on oath c ex-officio mero,' a c process utterly unknown in 
the courts of common law, and irreconcilable with the spirit 
of English jurisprudence — a process, indeed, which Sir Edward 
Coke, in the next reign, judicially pronounced to be illegal.' 

The sufferings which the Puritan clergy now endured were 
extreme. In October Whitgift issued letters to the bifhops of 
his province enjoining the 'diligent putting in execution' of the 
articles. Aylmer was only too willing an instrument in the 
hands of the Archbimop, and before the end of the year many 
of the minifters in his diocese had been already put to silence. 
While Aylmer's visitation was in progress, twenty-seven of the 
Essex ministers appealed to the Privy Council for protection. 
Their petition was as follows : — c Our mean estate .... in 
the eyes .... of the world, together with divers other cir- 
cumstances, .... cannot but minister some 

discouragement to us in this our attempt. Yet the same is 
utterly wiped away, and we do boldly and cheerfully offer this 
our humble suit .... being our only sanctuary next to Her 
Majesty which we have .... to repaire unto in our present 
necessity : . . . . we are encouraged when we consider how 
richly God hath endowed your honours with knowledge, 
wisdome, and zeal of the Gospell ; and .... we do beseech 
your honours .... to hear and judge of our matters .... 
Hearing this sounded out from the God of Heaven upon every 
one of us . . . . c Woe be unto me if I preach not the Gospell' 
according to the measure of God's grace .... we have 
endeavoured ourselves .... to approve ourselves both to 
God and man. Notwithstanding that, .... some of us are 

* Strype, Whitgift iii. 87, 105 ; ii. 28 cuse himself of any criminal matter or 

— 32$ iii. 232 — 235. The oath ex-officio thing, whereby he might be liable to any 

was an oath whereby any person might measure, penalty, or punifhment whatso- 

be obliged to make any presentment of ever ! Cardwell, Doc. Ann. ii. 269. 
any crime or offence, or to confess or ac- 



J 



\j 



78 Petition of the Essex Ministers. 

already put to silence, and the rest living in feare, not that 
we have or can be, as we hope, charged with false doclxine or 
slanderous life, but for that we refuse to subscribe that there 
is nothing contained in the Book of Common Prayer, and of 
ordaining of Bifhops, Priefts, and Deacons, contrary to the 
Word of God. We do protest, in the sight of the living 
God, who searcheth all hearts, that we do not refuse in desire 
to dissent .... The Apostle teacheth that he which doth 
doubt if he eate is condemned. Then if a man be condemned 
for doing a lawfull action because he is in doubt .... and 
yet doth it, how much more should we incur the displeasure of 
the Lord and procure his wrath . . . . if we should subscribe, 
being certainly persuaded that there be some things in the 
Book contrary to His Word. If these reasons which lead us 
hereunto might be so answered by the doctrines of the Sacred 
Bible, that we might have a sure and settled persuasion law- 
fully and in the feare of God, we would willingly consent to 
it ... . We humbly pray that your honourable and sacred 
protection may be extended upon us ; . . . . Instantly praying 
both day and night that He will blesse and preserve Her 
Majesty and your Honours to eternall salvation. 

' Your Honours' poor and humble suppliants, 
William Dike, Thomas Upcher, 

Laurence Newman, Thomas Carew, 

Robert Edmunds, Roger Oar, 

Giles Whiting, John Bishop, 

Augustine Pigot, John Wilton, 

Thomas Redrick, Camillus Rusticus, 

Samuel Cotesford, Edmund Barker, 

Nicholas Colpotts, Richard Rogers, 

Richard Allison, NicholXs~"B1^ckwell, 

Ralph Hawkden, Thomas Chaplein, 

William Seredge, Thomas Howell, 

Jeoffrey Josselin, Arthur Dent, 

John Huckle, George Gifford, 

Mark Wiersdale.' * 

* Second part of a Register, MSS., Dr. Williams' library, Red Cross Street , 



Appeal of the Privy Councillors. 79 

Notwithstanding this earneft appeal of the twenty-seven 
minifters to the Council, the persecution still went on; and 
before these proceedings had been concluded nearly fifty 
minifters had been either silenced or deprived in Essex alone. 
Some of the Privy Council now became alarmed. They 
accordingly appealed to Whitgift and Aylmer, in a letter 
signed by eight of their number, in which they say : c Hearing 
of late of the lamentable eftate of the church in the county of 
Eflex, that is, of a great number of zealous and learned 
preachers there suspended .... the vacancy of the place, 
for the moil: part, without any miniftry of preaching, prayers, 
and sacraments ; and in some places of certain appointed to 
their void rooms by persons neither of learning nor of good 
name : and, that in other places of that county a great number 
of persons occupying the cures being notoriously unfit, most 
for lack of learning, many charged or chargeable with great 
and erroneous faults, and drunkenness, filthiness of life, 
gamefters at cards, haunting of ale-houses, and such like ; 
against whom we hear not of any proceedings, but that they 
are quietly suffered ; . . . . and having then in general sort 
heard, out of many parts, of the like of this lamentable eftate 

London. These MSS. were compiled l6oj Strype, An. i. ii. 161 ; Whitgift i. 
by Roger Morrice, the ejected Vicar of 34. Josselin was Rector of Shellow 
DufEeld, in Derbyshire, chiefly from col- Bowels, to which living he was instituted 
lections in the library of Lord Hollis, to 22nd of July, 1581, on the presentation 
whom he was chaplain. They were of the Queen. His successor is entered 
made use of by Strype, who speaks of 14th Jan. 1585, per. cess. Josseline ; 
Morrice in very grateful terms, in his Newc. ii. 522. Upcher, Rector of Ford- 
ed, of Stow, Survey of London ii. 57} ham, 1 561, and Rector of St. Leonard's, 
Annals fol. ed. i. 241 5 Calamy Con- Colchefter, up to May, 1582, when he 
tinuation, 371 5 Brooks' Lives iii. 539. resigned. At what date he voided Ford- 
Edmunds had been Rector of Fifield, ham and was inftituted to St. Leonard's 
1560 — 1562, and was afterwards, 1586 does not appear. He was in trouble in 
— 1602, Rector of Eaft Mersea. Newc. 1570 and brought before the Council, but 
ii. 262, 414. Where he was during the discharged. He was still in Colchefter 
interval I have not been able to ascertain. after his resignation of St. Leonard's ; 
Colpotts was Vicar of South Weald 1576 Newc. ii. 270, 173; Strype, Grindal 
— 1593, and also Rector of Dunton S. P. O. Dom. S. Eliz. vii., 92. For the 
1585 — 1593. He died in 1593. Newc. others see Appendix to this Chapter, 
ii. 646, 231; Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 



80 Appeal of the Privy Councillors. 

of the church, yet to the intent we should not be deceived 

we sought to be informed of some particulars, 

namely, of some parts of EfTex ; and having received the same 
.... we have thought it our duties .... without 
intermeddling ourselves with your jurisdiction ecclesiaftical, 
to make report unto your lordfhips as persons that ought moft 
specially to have regard thereto, as we hope you will ; and 
therefore have sent you herewith, in writing, a catalogue of the 
names of persons of sundry natures and conditions : that is, one 
sort being reported to be learned, zealous, and good preachers, 
deprived and suspended, and so the cures not served with meet 
persons. The other sort, a number of persons having cures, 
being in sundry sorte far unmeet for any offices in the church 
for their many defects and imperfections, and so, as it seems 
by the reports, have been and are suffered to continue without 
any reprehenfion. ... In a third sort, a number having 
double livings with cure, and so not resident upon their 
cures, but yet enjoying the benefit of their benefices without 
any personal attendance. . . . Againft all these sort of ... . 
corrupt members we hear of no inquifition .... but yet of 
great extremity againft them that are known diligent preachers. 
Now, therefore, we «... do moft earneftly desire your 
lordfhips to take some . . . consideration that the people . . . 
may not be deprived of their paftors, being diligent, learned, 
and zealous, though, in some points ceremonial, they may seem 

doubtful only in conscience, and not of wilfulness A 

Your Lordfhips' loving friends, 

William Burleigh, Gilbert Shrewsbury, 

Ambrose Warwick, Robert Leicester, 

Charles Howard, James Croft, 

Francis Walsingham.* 

* Cecil, Lord Burleigh, married i. 588. Howard of Effingham. Cooper, 

Mildred, daughter of Sir Anthony Cook Ath. Cant. Gilbert, son of Francis 

and sifter of Lady Bacon. Morant i. 66 ; Talbot. Strype, Annals i. i. 187. Lei- 

Ath. Cant. ii. 249 — 257. Ambrose cester, Robert Dudley, a great friend of 

Dudley, Earl of Warwick. See a collifion the Puritans. Strype, Parker i. 311 j ii. 

of his with Whitgift. Strype, Whitgift 191. Whitgift i. 430. 471. Fulke, 



Essex Elections. 81 

There is a document transcribed in the c Second part 
of a Regifter,' which bears internal evidence of being the 
identical return to which the Councillors thus refer. I 
therefore subjoin it in the form of an Appendix to this 
chapter, with such brief biographical notes as I have been 
able to collect and my space will allow. 

Even this powerful interpofition had but small effecl: with 
the prelates. They therefore still went on. A new Parliament 
was summoned for the 23rd of October, 1586, and the pro- 
ceedings which were in progress againf} the Puritans had not a 
little influence on the elections. Wherever the nonconform ifts 
were in sufficient strength they returned members in whom 
they felt some confidence. The members for the county were 
Sir Thomas Henneage and Sir John Petre ; for Colchefter, 
James Morice and Francis Harvey, both of whom were 
nominated by Sir Francis Walsingham, a firm friend of the 
Puritans ; and the members for Maldon were John Butler and 
Edmund Lewknor.* 

The laymen of the county, immediately after the election, 
petitioned, some the newly-elected members, others the Privy 
Council, others Lord Rich, and others the Parliament, 

Butler and Lewknor were petitioned c in an humble requeft 
of the inhabitants of Maldon, with their neighbours thereabout 

Rector of Great Warley 1571 — 1589, i. 17, 46, 485 ii. 135. Morant, Col- 
was one of his chaplains. Ath. Cant. ii. Chester 134. S. P. O. Dom. S. Elizabeth 
30, 34, 56. Newc. ii. 641. Sir James xxxiv. 44. Sir John Petre, afterwards 
Crofts, Comptroller of the Queen's House- Lord Petre, of Writtle. Morant ii. 63. 
hold. Walfingham had been an exile in James Morrice, Ongar. Morant i. 129. 
Mary's reign. He was now Recorder of Sttype, Whitgift ii. 28 — 31. Butler was 
Colchester. S trype, Whitgift i. 425, 431 j probably of the family into which Robert 
iii. 221. Ath. Cant. ii. 86 — 92. Wright married. Edward Lewknor 
* Sir Thomas Henneage was Treasurer afterwards Sir Edward. He had pre- 
of the Queen's Privy Chamber. In 1564 viously represented Tamworth in 1571, 
he has granted him the Manor and Port and Shoreham in 1572. He also again 
of Copthall, where he afterwards built a represented Maldon in 1592. Newport, 
noble mansion. In 1573 he has also in Cornwall, in 1 597 j and Maldon once 
granted him the Manor and Rectory of more in 1603. Sir Edward's daughter, 
Epping. Sir Thomas continued to sit for Hester, married Sir Robert Quarles, of 
Efl'ex until his death in 1595. Morant Romford. Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 412. 






K 



82 Petition fro?n Maldon, Pochford, and other places. 

of Dengie, Rochfort, Thurstable, and Witham,' which says : 
1 It is not an injury to our bodves that causeth us this day 
to complaine. It is not the want of bread, or the scarcity 
of come. . . . But it is the wrong done to our soules, and 
. . . . the want of spiritual foode. If weaske our pallors, and 
such as are set over us ... . they are crueller than the oftriche 
in the wilderness, and more unkind than the dragons. . . . 
For alas ! the greater number .... either be utterly unht by 
reason of their ignorance .... or altogether careless and 
unable .... being non-resident .... or being not only 
unable to teache, but also of an ungodly life, such as have been 
Popish priefts, tavlors, wheelwrights, fletchers, serving-men, 
and manv of them ale-house haunters, dicers, quarrellers, 
whoremongers, and full of gross sins. As for the small 
number of our godly teachers, some are suspended, and the 
most of them are threatened to be. . . . These things have 
wrunge from us this lamentable complaint, and have enforced 
us to en* out for heipe .... beseeching and praying the 
High Court of Parliament to procure the removing of such 
things as have no better use in the Church than to make 
difference among brethren, and give occasions to such of the 
wicked as are ready to use them to vex and molest the faithful 
ministers and to interrupt the free course of the gospel .... 
The godly have long languished for this and praved to see it. 
The strength of sin and iniquity of the time hath found it more 
than needfull. The zeale of God's glory, and the soules of 
our pofterity seeme to require all this from us.' The same 
persons also address the Privy Council in much the same 
terms of pleading eameftness ; concluding thus : ' We most 
humbly beseech your Honours, even in the bowells of Jesus 
Christ, to be meanes for us that our faithful and godly 
preachers may be reftored and continued, so that we may 
serve the Lord our God according to His bleiTed and ever- 
lafring Word.' 

Upwards of two hundred, and among them the chief men of 
the Hundred of Dunmow, addreiled themselves to Lord Rich. 
c The greater!: number of our ministers are utterly without 



Petition from Maldon, Rochford^ and other places. 83 

learning, or very idle, or otherwise of very scandalous life . . . 
and those few at whose hands we reaped comfort are from 
time to time molested, threatened, and put to silence. May 
it, therefore, please your Honour .... to make known our 
lamentable case . . . that . . . our grievances be redrefTed 
. . . and so the foundations of Chriftian religion be not every- 
where laid.' 

Upwards of a hundred of the chief laymen of Rochford 
Hundred petitioned the Privy Council. After having related 
their grievances in much the same strain as their neighbours, 
they conclude with the appeal : ' Moil humbly we doe entreat 
and beseech your Honours, according to your accuftomed care 
and good will towards the Church of God, that these good 
and godly preachers .... to whom we are accuftomed to 
repaire, may be freed and at liberty to preach the Gospel 
amongst us as they have done to God His glory." And the 
Hundreds of Hinckford, Freshwell, Uttlesford, and Clavering, 
petitioned the Parliament with similar complaints of their 
privations, adding : ' May it, therefore, please the Honorable 
Court that redresse may be had of this our pitifull estate .... 
and that the godly preachers we have, . . . may be freed from 
their vexations and troubles, and continued still in their places 
in the labor of the Lord's vineyard, to the praise of His 
glorious name.' * 

Six of the suffering minifters also addressed the Parliament 
in a Petition, a part of which has been already printed by 
Mr. Brooks in the first volume of his Lives of the Puritans, 
p. 52. They pray the High Court: ' .... to stand assured 
of their dutyfull subjection and obedience to all lawfull authority 
.... if the terror of the Lord conftrained them .... and 
if the love of God, crying day and night unto them, .... 
shall so far prevail with them, .... that they be enforced .... 
in all quiet and peaceable manner to preach the Word of God 
to the people whom they serve, and commend their lives and 
whole estate to Almighty God as to a faithfull Keeper, and to 

* Second part of a Register. MSS. 457 — 74<; 

G 2 



84 The Puritans in Parliament. 

the gracious clemency of the House, and of Her Right Ex- 
cellent Majesty the Queen.' * 

Moved by these and similar appeals from other parts of the 
country, the friends of the Puritans in the House of Commons 
endeavoured to procure them some relief. On the 27th of 
February, 1587, Mr. Cope c ofFered to the House a bill and a 
written book/ the bill containing a petition c that it might be 
enacted that all laws now in force touching the Ecclesiaftical 
government should be void ; ' and ' that it might be enacted 
that the Book of Common Prayer now offered, and none other, 
might be received into the Church to be read.' f Mr. Cope 
was supported, among others, by Mr. Lewknor, who spoke, 
' shewing the necessity of a learned ministry, and thought it 
very fit that the petition and book should be read.' This 
coming to the ears of the Queen, she sent for the 'bill and the 
book,' and in a few days after this Mr. Cope, Mr. Lewknor, 
and two other members, who had spoken on the motion, were 
summoned before the Lord Chancellor and the Privy Council, 
and by them were committed to the Tower.' % The House of 
Lords also had more than one debate upon the subject of 
Puritan grievances, and a bill was actually introduced, and 
apparently with the sanction of the Queen herself, on the 
subject of pluralities. But on the petition of the bifhops, alleging 
c a catalogue of inconveniences that would arise if pluralities 
were taken away,' and arguing the danger of innovations, the 
Queen interfered, and the bill was withdrawn. || When 
the Parliament was dissolved in March, 1538, things therefore 
remained precisely as they were. 

Satirical and scurrilous pamphlets shortly came to be pub- 
limed, and obtained extensive circulation throughout the 
country; among them the notorious Martin Mar -Prelate 
Tracts. On the bare and it should seem the altogether 

* Part of a Register MSS. 819, 820. f See Fuller's Church History iii. 94. 

The six ministers were Ralph Hawkden, J Pari. Hist. i. 850 — 852. 

George Gifford, John Huckle, Giles || Fuller iii. 95, 96. 

Whiting, William TurnftalL Roger 
Oar. 



Rochford. 85 

unfounded suspicion of being implicated in these last pub- 
lications, John Penry was executed c at St. Thomas a watering, 
situated close to the second milestone on the Old Kent Road,' 
on the 25th of May, 1593. John Udal was also sentenced to 
death at Kingston, but died in the Marshalsea towards the end 
of the year 1592.* About the same time John Greenwood, 
of whom we have already heard at Rochford, also suffered 
death for his opinions. He had been apprehended as early as 
1586, and having undergone several examinations, had laid in 
divers prisons in company with others who were also in custody 
for their nonconformity until the 23rd of March, 1592, when 
he was finally indicted, together with his friends, Henry Barrowe 
and Scipio Bellot, Robert Bowie and Daniel Studly, before the 
Lord Chief Justice, the Attorney-General, and other function- 
aries, on the charge of publiming and dispensing seditious books. 
Barrowe and Greenwood were condemned to execution on the 
following day. The sequel up to the day on which these 
martyrs died, is thus related by Henry Barrowe, in a letter dated 
the 4th or 5th of the fourth month, 1593 : c Upon the 24th, early 
in the morning, was preparation made for our execution. We 
were brought out of the limbo, our irons were smitten off, and 
we ready to be bound to the cart, when her Majesty's most 
gracious pardon came for our reprieve. After that, the bifhops 
sent unto us certain doctors and deans to exhort and confer with 
us. We showed them how they had neglected the time ; we 
had been well nigh six years in their prisons, never refused, but 
always humbly desired of them Chriftian conference for the 
peaceably discussing and deciding our differences, but could 
never obtain it at their hands .... That our time was now 
short in this world, neither were we to beftow upon it con- 
ferences .... yet if they desired to have conference with us, 
they were to get our lives respited .... we then would 
gladly condescend to any Chriftian and orderly conference by 
the Scriptures. Upon the last day of the third month, my 
brother Greenwood and I were very early and secretly conveyed 

* Hist. P. 177 — 192. 



86 Rochford. 

to the place of execution, where, being tied by the necks to the 
tree, we were permitted to speak a few words. We there, in 
the sight of that Judge that knoweth and searcheth the heart, 
before whom we were then immediately to appear, protefted 
our loyalty and innocency towards her Majefty, our nobles, 
governors, and this whole State ; that in our writings we had no 
malicious or evil intent, so much as in thought towards any of 
these, or towards any person in the world, and that wherein we 
had through zeal or unavoidably let fall any word or sentence 
that moved offence or carried any show of irreverence, we were 
heartily sorry, and humbly besought pardon of them so offended 
for the same. Further, we exhorted the people to obedience 
and hearty love of their prince and magistrates, to lay down 
their lives in their defence against all enemies ; yea, at their 
hands, patiently to receive death or any punishment they shall 
inflict, whether jufUy or unjuftly .... For the books written 
by us, we exhorted all men no further to receive anything 
therein contained, than they should find sound proof of the 
same in the Holy Scriptures. Thus craving pardon of all men 
whom we had any way offended ; and freely forgiving the 
whole world, we used prayer for her Majesty, the magistrates, 
people, and even for our adversaries, and having both of us 
almost finished our last words, behold one was even at that 
instant come with a reprieve for our lives from her Majesty.' 
Notwithstanding this second reprieve, the very next day 
after the date of his letter (April 6) Greenwood and his friend 
Barrowe were hurried to the place of execution secretly, and 
put to death.* 

The Parliament which was now sitting passed a measure 
entitled, c An A£fc to retain the Queen's Majesty's subjects in 
their due obedience ; ' the intent of which is stated in the 
preamble to be c For the preventing and avoiding of such great 
inconveniences and perils as might .... grow by the wicked 
practices of seditious sectaries and disloyal persons.' This Acl 



* Historical Papers, 145, 176. Brooks ii. 23 — 44. Kanbury's Memorials i. 35- 
82. Ath. Cant. i. 154. 



Death of Elizabeth. 87 

provided that, c if any person above the age of sixteen years' 
should 'obstinately refuse' to come 'to church for the space of 
a month,' or be 'present at any assemblies, conventicles, or 
meetings, under color of . . exercise of religion,' he should be 
' committed to prison, there to remain, without bail or mainprize,' 
until he should 'conform,' which he was required to do by 
making ' public and open submission,' in a form which 
demanded he should say, among other things, ' I do humbly 
confess and acknowledge that I have grievously offended God 
.... by absenting myself from church .... and in using 
and frequenting . . conventicles . . and I am heartily sorry 
for the same.' It was further provided that any one who should 
refuse thus to conform, having once been convicted, should 
' abjure this realm of England, and all other the Queen's 
dominions for ever ; ' and that if ' he should refuse such abju- 
ration/ or having made it, ' should not go to such haven and 
within such time as is appointed,' or having gone away, should 
return again, he should be guilty of ' felony, without benefit of 
clergy ! ' Oppression could no farther go than this. Conformity 
had been rendered impossible for thousands already, and now 
dissent was either transportation for life, or death.* 

The long reign of Elizabeth closed on the 24th of March, 
1603. 



35 El. 1, 2, 3, 5. Burns, Ecc. Law. A<51. Diflenters. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV, 



A SURVEY OF SIXTEENE HUNDREDS IN THE COUNTY OF 
ESSEX, CONTAINING BENEFICES 335 \ WHEREIN THERE ARE 
OF IGNORANT AND UNPREACHING MINISTERS 1 73 ; OF SUCH 
AS HAVE TWO BENEFICES A-PIECE 6 1 ; OF NON-RESIDENTS 
THAT ARE SINGLE BENEFICED 10 ; PREACHERS OF SCANDA- 
LOUS LIFE I2j SUMMA TOTALIS 225. THE HUNDREDS 

WANTING ARE HARLOW HALF-HUNDRED, WALTHAM HUN- 
DRED, BEACONTREE HUNDRED. 



I. A survey of the unpreaching ministers in Essex, with 
their conditions. 

Mr. Rush, of Maplestead Parva. 

The curate of Glestenthorpe. * 

Mr. Dunnell, parson of Burbrooke.f 

Mr. Whiting, parson of Toppesfield, sometime a serving 
man. % 

Mr. Storie, parson of Yeldham Parva. || 

Mr. Hunt, curate of Sible Hedingham, a very infamous 
person. 

Mr. Ludham, vicar of Wethersfield. § 

* The Vicar of Gestlingthorp was was consecrated Suffragan Bishop of Col- 
Thomas Corbett. N. ii. 281. Chester by Whitgift in 1592. Strype, 

f Robert Donnell, poffibly a son of W. ii. 147. Ann. iv. 555. Cooper, Ath. 

Thomas, of whom see Strype, Cranmer Cant. ii. 469. If Newcourt be right in 

450. Grindal 52. Cooper, Ath. Cant. identifying the Reclor of Yeldham with 

ii. 522. the Vicar of Witham, it is perhaps more 

\ William Whiting, admitted on the likely that Storie was the Curate than 

presentation of the Oueen, nth Feb., that the name is misspelt in the MSS. ii 

1578, and died before April, 1598. Feb. ,1578 ; and died before April, 1598. 

|| John Sterne. N. ii. A John Sterne § John Ludham, 17th May, 1 5 70. 

became Vicar of Witham in 1587, and N. ii. 654. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



89 



Mr. Kenhed, vicar of Stamford, sometime of an occupation. 

Mr. Walker, vicar of Old Saling. * 

Mr. Joiner, rector of Much Barfield. f 

Mr. Pool, vicar, Poole's Belchamp. 

Mr. Bailie, parson of Borrile, a man of scandalous life, a 
drunkard. 

Mr. Coole, parson of Middleton, a man of occupation 
sometime. % 

Mr. Philipps, parson of Sturmer, sometime a popish 
priest. || 

Mr. Pennock, vicar of Much Maplestead, sometime a 
tailor. § 

Mr. Walles, parson of Pentloe, now in trouble for in- 
continency. ^ 

Mr. Bland, parson of Tilburie. ** 

Mr. Collisson, parson of Belchamp Water, f f 

Mr. Horsnell, parson of Brundon, sometime also a frier. JJ 

Mr. Woodthorpe, parson of Lamershe, sometime a popish 
priest. || || 



* Richard Walker, 14th Nov., 1573. 
He had previoufly been Rector of Birch- 
anger, where he was admitted 4th Dec, 
1560. He voided Birchanger before Feb., 
1566. When he voided Saling does not 
appear. N. ii. 514. 

f John Jenner, 29th July, 1580, on 
the presentation of the Queen. He died 
before Jan., 1615. N. ii. 30. 

J John Cole admitted 7th April, 
1560 ? (The date in Newcourt is plainly 
a misprint.) Cole died before Jan. 1590. 
N. ii. 419. 

|| Jeffrey Philipps admitted 25th Jan., 
15625 refigned before 20th Sept., 1600. 
N. ii. 566. 

§ William Pennock, 6th Nov., 1574; 
died before June, 1587. N. ii. 404. 

f[ Nicholas Wallys, 4th Aug., 1 571. 
How or when he voided does not appear. 
N. ii. 468. 

** Tilbury Juxta Clare, Thomas 



Blande, 1st April, 1572; resigned before 
1592, when he became Vicar of Ramsey. 
He died before June, 1601. N. ii. 594, 
485. 

ff John Collinson, 12th Oct., 1584. 
He had been Rector of Henny Magna in 
1563 ; he refigned Henny before April 
1 57 1, but how or when he voided Bel- 
champ does not appear. N. ii. 45, 327. 

XX J°bn Horsenayle, Sept., 1561. He 
had been Rector of Raine Parva, to 
which he was admitted in 1 545 5 he had 
therefore turned twice. Horsenayle re- 
resigned Raine in 1572. He died before 
Feb. 1587. N. ii. 480, 100. 

|J John Woodthorpe, 13th Sept., 
1544, on the presentation of John, Earl 
of Oxford. He was also Rector of 
Mount Bewers to which he was admitted 
13th Jan., 1580, on the presentation or 
the Queen. He died before Sept. 1599. 
N. ii. 103, 360. 



9 o 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



Mr. Somerton, parson of Focksheard. * 

Mr. Bowne, curate of Afhton. 

Mr. Tifford, curate of Walden. f 

Mr. Elie, vicar of Littleburie. J 

Mr. Prince, vicar of Great Cheflerford, a man of very evil 
report. || 

Mr. Clough, parson of Elmdon. § 

Mr. Shepheard, parson of Haiden. % 

Mr. Clearke, vicar of Great Wendon. ** 

Mr. Lithall, vicar of Newporte. ft 

Mr. Flute, vicar of Rickling. |||| 

Mr. Lucking, vicar of Takeley. He is one that cannot 
preach the Word of God truly and soundly, for which he was 
constrained to recant his errors openly, yet he continueth 
falsifying and corrupting the Scriptures. Witnesses, Frances 
Gainford, gent., Robert Ingall, John Cambricke, Thomas 
Saunders, Francis Clarke. §§ 



* Foxearth. Thomas Sommerton, 
admitted 6th July, 1561. He was also 
Rector of Leyton, where he was admitted 
5th Oct., 1560. How or when he 
voided either living does not appear. N. 
ii. 275, 392. 

■f The Vicar of Walden was Thomas 
Dove, afterwards Bifhop of Peterborough. 
He was admitted in 1580. Dove was 
now also one of the Chaplains in ordinary 
to the Queen ; N. ii. 294, 627 ; Wood, 
Ath. Ox. i. 697. He was Rector of 
Haidon 1556, 1558 ; N. ii. 294; Strype, 
W. ii. 457. 

J John Hellie, 24th April, 1570. 
He was presented by the rector, Henry 
Harvey, who having turned round on the 
accession of Mary, again repented on the 
accession of Elizabeth 5 Strype, Cranmer 
468 j At. All. E. M. ii. i. 402 5 N. i. 
81 5 Hely (as his name was also spelt) died 
before 10th Sept., 1596. N. ii. 394. 



|| Thomas Prynce, 9th Dec, 1562. 
Died before May, 1600. N. ii. 133. 

§ Thomas Clough, 5th Aug., 1568. 
Died before March, 1602. N. ii. 242. 

f[ William Shepheard, 21st June, 
1 541, and who, having twice turned, 
resigned in 1586. N. ii. 294. 

** Jeffrey Clark, 18th Feb., 1577, 
on the presentation of Aylmer. Died 
before March, 1594. N. ii. 650. 

ff John Lythall, 19th Jan., 1581. 
He had been Rector of St. Chriftopher's, 
London, where he was deprived in 1567. 
N. ii. 436, i. 324. 

|| || William Flete, nth Feb., 1559. 
Died before Feb., 1597. N. ii. 494. From 
1570 to 1574 Flete had also been Rector 
of Birchanger. N. ii. 62. 

§§ Robert Lukin, admitted 9th Dec, 
1 561, on the presentation of Grindal. 
He died before Dec, 1598. The Gayns- 
fords were of Toppesfield. Morant ii. 359 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



9 1 



Mr. French, parson of Birchanger, a very insufficient and 
careless minister, a gamester. Witness, Francis Clark. * 

Mr. Batho, vicar of Elsenham, a very insufficient man, and 
cannot preach, f 

Mr. Birde, vicar of Great Chishill. % 

Mr. Simpson, vicar of Clavering. || 

Mr. Miller, curate of Berden, sometime a weaver. 

Mr. Jenawaie, vicar of Manuden. § 

Mr. Morgan, Ap. Richard, parson of New Sampford.^I 

Mr. Luddington, vicar of Hempsted and Old Sandford.** 

Mr. Hoole, curate of Asden. 

Mr. Braine, of Hadstock. 

Mr. Levit, parson of Leaden Roding, a notorious swearer, a 
dicer, a carder, a hawker and hunter, a very careless person 
.... He is a quarreller and fighter, for he quarrelled and 
fought with the parson of Stoke in a common inn in Chelms- 
ford. Witnesses, Thos. Alett, John Crassingham, with 
others, ft 



* Thomas French, Flete's successor. 
N. i. 22nd Oct., 1574. N. ii. 62. 

■f Robert Batho, admitted 26th Jan., 
1578. Died before Feb., 1592. N. ii' 
246. 

X William Burd, 18th Nov., 1566, 
resigned before May, 1605. N. ii. 150. 

|| Thomas Simpson, 5th " March, 
1560. Died before 21st Dec, 1592, at 
which date he was succeeded by John 
Smith. Smith was a native of Warwick, 
and had been Fellow of St. John's, Oxford. 
He succeeded Launcelot Andrews in the 
lecturefhip at St. Paul's, where he was 
also divinity reader. He was vicar here 
for twenty- five years. M. ii. 1 57 j Cole, 
MSS. iii. 1395 Wood Ath. Ox. i. 414. 
There are published of his — (1). The 
Doctrine of Prayer for all Men, proved 
againft those who say that all men are not 



to be prayed for; Lond., 1598. 4to, 
(2). The Essex Dove 5 Lond., 1629, 
4to. (3.) Subftance of Prayer, or an 
Expofition of the Lord's prayer; Lond., 
1629, 4to. (4.) An Expofition of the 
Creed, and Explanation of the Articles 
of our Chriftian faith, 1632, fol. (5.) 
His works in several treatises, viz., The 
Grounds of Religion ; an Expofition on 
the Lord's Prayer ; and a Discourse of 
Repentance; Lond., 1637, fol. 

§ John Janeway, 2nd Aug., 1564. 
N. ii. 403. 

^[ nth Oct., 1565. He was still 
there in 16 10. N. ii. 516. 

** John Luddington, 23rd Sept., 1564. 
N. ii. 515. 

•f-f- Matthew Levett, 26th Nov., 1571 
on the presentation of the Queen. N. ii. 
507. 



92 Appendix to Chap. IV. 

Mr. Banks, parson of White Roding, a very negligent man. 
— Witness, Nicholas Horsey and Rein Sommers, with 
others.* 

Mr. Vaux, vicar of High Eafter, a very negligent man, and 
one that spendeth much time at the bowls, cards and tables ; 
and one very careless for his family, for his wife and children 
want at home, while he spendeth abroad. Witness, Thos. 
Arwaker, of the same parim.f 

Mr. Cooke, of Much Dunmow. 

Mr. Thomison, curate of Little Canfield, is a gamefter and 
an ale-house haunter, and such a one as useth a very loose life, 
frequenting the company of vain men. Witness hereto, John 
Haulande, Thos. Nailor, Richard Wait. J 

Mr. Innian, vicar of Much Canfield. || 

Mr. Booth, curate of little Dunmow. 

Mr. Platte, parson of Shellow Bowels. § 

Mr. Amadon, curate of Halingburie, Morely. fl 

Mr. Archer, curate of Little Eston, sometime a pedlar by 
occupation, a swearer. Witness, John Lewis. ** 

The curate of Little Hallingburie. 

Mr. Symons, parson of Firman, ft 

Mr. Barfoot, parson of Fifield. %% 

Mr. Bill, parsonofShellie.mi 



* Henry Banks, 30th May, 1576. fif[ Rich. Amadas, 3rd July, 1585. 

He had previously been Rector of Wil- Died before Sept., 1629. N. ii. 296. 
lingale, Spain, 1573 — 1576. N. ii. ** The Rector was Henry Fletcher, 

500, 671. 1 6th June, 1582. Fletcher was also 

•f Robert Vaux, 25th Aug. 1569, Rector of Barneston from May, 1579^0 

afterwards 1587, also Rector of Willing- the commencement of 1600, when he 

ale Doe. He died before Feb., 1604. resigned. He died before April, 1634 

N. ii. 232, 668. N. ii. 238, 37, 206. 

\ The Rector was Richard Vaughan. -f-f- Thomas Symons, 3rd March, 1584 

Infra. N. ii. 256. 

|| W. Innian, 28th July, 1 563. He XX George Barfoot, 26th May, 1578 

refigned before May, 1604. N. ii. 123. N. ii. 262. 

§ William Piatt, 14th Jan., 1585. || || Nicholas Byll, 7th July, 1574 

He had succeeded on the deprival of He had also been Vicar of Lindsell, 1569 

Jeffrey Josselin, see infra. Piatt died — 1578. Byll refigned before Dec, 1589 

before Nov., 1620. ii. 522. N. ii. 521, i. 391. 



Appendix to Chap. IF. 93 

Mr. Hofkin, parson of Belchamp Rooding.* 

Mr. Dawson, parson of Abbas Rooding, a common 
swearer, f 

Mr. Atkinson, parson of Stamford Rivers. % 

Mr. Benner, of Navestock. 

The parson of Chigwell. || 

Mr. Elener, curate of Canendon, an alehouse haunter, also 
a gamefter. 

Mr. Hausmann, vicar of Canendon, sometime a townbroach, 
made a mass priest. A persecutor in Queen Mary's days, now 
he hath two benefices. A very careless man, and one that 
cannot preach sincerely the truth. Witnesses, John Adams, 
Edward Booth, of the same place. § 

Mr. Birde, parson of Asheldon. f 

Mr. Glascock, vicar of Hockley, sometime a wheelwright.** 

Mr. James Allen, vicar of Shopland, sometime a serving 
man; unable to preach, for he cannot render an account of his 
faith neither in Latin nor English, yet made minifter within 
these three or four years. Witnesses, Edward Thornton, John 
Peacock, of the same parish, ft 

Mr. H. Phippe, vicar of Barling, sometime a dealer by 
occupation. Convicted of ... . A man far unable to 
preach. Witnesses, John Gardiner, of Hebridge, with others. 

Mr. Mercer, curate of Little Wakering, a drunkard and 
ale-house haunter. 

Mr. Dowell, vicar of Little Wakering, a drunkard and ale- 
house haunter. %% 



* Rich. Hofkyn, 12th Jan., 1578 
Died before 1642. N. ii. 503. 

•f- Matthew Dawson, 26th May, 1565 
Died before June, 1587. N. ii. 449. 

% Chriftopher Atkinson, 15th March 
1577. N. i. 547. Poflibly the same 
with the Merton College man. Strype 
Parker i. 501. 

|| This was Thomas Fulkes, 10th Jan. 



§ Canewdon. John Howsemann, nth 
April, 1554. N. ii. 121. Strype Aylmer 
78. see page 165. 

^[ Afhingdon. John Byrd, 31st Jan., 
1566. Died before March, 1589. N. ii. 
21. 

** Thomas Glasrock, nth Oft., 1574. 
N. ii. 331. 

ff James Allen, 18th Feb., 1631, on 



1571. He was also Rector of Tollefhunt the presentation of the Queen. N. ii. 532. 
Knights, nth Dec, 1579. He died %X Francis Dowell, nth Jan., 1583. 

before June, 1589. N. ii. 143, 607. He refigned before Aug., 1587. N. ii. 

621. p. 165. 



94 



Appendlx to Chap. IF. 



Mr. Johnson, of Woodham Mortimer, a drunkard. * 
Mr. Hickson, of Munden, sometime a serving man. f 
Mr. Dobson, of Criksea. % 
Mr. Glover, of St. Laurence, a gamefter. || 
Mr. Dewbanke, of Bradwell. § 
Mr. Barniey, of Althorne, an ale-house haunter. fl 
Mr. Salifbury, of North Fambridge.** 
Mr. Miller, curate of Denge.ft 
Mr. Seeper, curate of Burnham. fj 

Mr. Potts, parson of Tolieshunt Darcie, sometime a 
tailor, mi 

Mr. Holmes, parson of Wickham. §§ 

Mr. Halls, vicar of Witham, incontinent. ^ffl 



* Nicholas Johnson. 14th Feb., 1567. 
Died before April, 1 6 1 1 . 

f Robert Hickson. The date of his 
admiflion does not appear 5 he died before 
March, 1604. N. ii. 428. 

X Nat Dobson. 19th April, 1585. 
Died before Aug., 1610. N. ii. 201. 

|| Hugh Glover, 28th Feb., 1570. 
N. ii. 372. 

§ Bradwell by the sea. 



Debanke, 24th March, 1562. 



John 
Died 



before April, 1602. p. 165. His succeffor 
was William Tabor, Rector of Widding- 
ton, Dec. 30, 1570; Rector of High 
Ongar, Feb. 21, 1571. Tabor refigned 
Widdington in 1574, and became Rector 
of Willingale Spain, Nov. 25 of that 
year He refigned Willingale in 1582. 
In Aug. 1585, he became Archdeacon of 
Effex ; Ongar and Bradwell he retained 
till his death in 161 1. N. i. 73. 
Tabor's name appears among the fignatures 
to an appeal to Sir W. Cecil, in behalf of 
Thos. Cartwright, in July, 1570. Strype, 
Annals i. 1 . 2. Also in another, addreffed 
to the same person on the same subject, 
in the Aug. following j this time it appears 
in company with those of Edmund Chap- 



man and Henry Knewftub. Strype i. ii. 

4I7- 

€[ Richard Barniey, 5th July, 1575. 
He died before Feb., 1590. N. ii. 10. 

** Henry Salifbury, 22nd Sept., 1583. 
N. ii. 253. 

ft The Rector was Edward Morecroft, 
27th Jan., 1558. He died before Feb., 
1580. N. ii. 202. 

JJ The Vicar was Peter Lewes, 5th 
Sept., 1583. Died before July, 1619.N. 
ii. 114. 

Illl William Potts, 8th May, 1574. 
Died before Oct. 1587. N. ii. 605. 

§§ Wickham Biihops. John Holmes, 
1 2th Feb., 1568. He had previouily been 
Vicar of High Eafter, 18th Jan., 1566. 
He resigned this Vicarage before his ad- 
miffion at Wickham. Holmes died 
before Oft., 1600. N. ii. 658. 

q[f[ Edward Hall, 5th Oct., 1560. 
Died before March, 1587. N. ii. 667. 
p. 166. Hall had also held the Rectory 
of Nitteswell from 1560 to 1572. His 
succeffor at Witham was John Sterne. 
p. 88. Hall was also Vicar of White 
Notley, 13th Jan., 1573. N. ii. 442. 
Strype, Grindal 54. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



95 



Mr. Day, of Cressing.* 
Mr. Copland, of Bradwell. f 
Mr. Laie, of Owting. % 
Mr. Harrell, curate of Little Brackfted. || 
The curate of North Uckendon.§ 
The curate of Crannam.^I 
Mr. Tayler, vicar of Aveley. ** 
Mr. Frier, vicar of West Thurrock. ff 
Mr. Warner, parson of Upminfter, sometime a grocer. J X 
Mr. Atkins, curate of Romford, thrice presented for a 
drunkard. 

Mr. Hitchin, of Bromley, parson in Stratford. 
Mr. Wood, of Woodford. |||| 
Mr. Claiton, of East Ham. §§ 



* Nicholas Day, 18 th June, 1585. 
N. ii. 199. 

f Bradwell by Coggeshall. John Cop- 
land, 9th Nov., 1559. N. ii. 83. 

J Ulting. Francis Lea, 28th Oft., 
1564. Refigned before April, 1591. 

|| James Harrell, 8th March, 1579. 
Refigned before Nov., 1594. N. ii. 93. 

§ The Reftor was Robert Wilmot, 
28th Nov., 1582. N. ii. 447. He was 
also Vicar of Hornedon-on-the-Hill, 2nd 
Dec, 1585. ib. 34. His predecefTor 
was Henry Trippe, 27th Feb., 1569; 
who also held the living of St. Stephen's, 
Walbrook, London, 1564 — 1601. He 
refigned Ockenden before Nov. 1583. N. 
ii. 447. This was the Trip who, with 
another minister, was the means of having 
Thomas Pond, the papift, removed from 
the Marfhalsea to the Cattle at Bifhops 
Stratford. Strype, Alymer 30. Cooper, 
Ath. Cant. ii. 329. 

^| The Reftor was John Goldring. 
Infra. 17th Oft. 1 571. He died before 
June, 1590. N. ii. 195. 



## William Tayler, 23rd Jan., 1573. 
On the presentation of Aylmer. He died 
before June, 1589. Tayler also became 
Reftor of Springfield Boswell in 1581. 
N. ii. 538. 

ff Robert Fryer. 15th Dec, 1584. 
Died before July, 1593. N. ii. 592. 

XX William Wafher, 25th Nov., 1562. 
Died before May, 1609. N. ii. 618.. 

Illl Richard Wood, 2nd Dec, 1561. 
Died before Oft. 1589. N. ii. 680. 

§§ The Vicar was Nicholas Smith, 7th 
July, 1569. He died before Oct., 1589. 
He was also Vicar of Fulham, 19th 
April, 1550? If this date be correft, and 
Newcourt is correct in the identification, 
it is at least a curious illustration of epis- 
copal vigilance. How would Aylmer 
have tolerated a Puritan so near him ? 
Smith subscribed the Articles of 1562, as 
member of Convocation, and, of course, 
voted with the majority againft any altera- 
tion in the rites and ceremonies. Strype's 
Annals i. i. 489, 505. 



9 6 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



Mr. Hall, of West Ham, a drunkard. 
Mr. Newton, of Little Ilford, a grand drunkard."* 
Mr. Silget, vicar of Boxted. f 

Mr. Andrews, vicar of Wormingford, a notorious drunkard. J 
Mr. Turner, curate of Chappel. 
Mr. Adam, vicar of Earls Colne. || 
Mr. Perkinson, parson of Gaines Colne. § 
Mr. Damian, of Little Taie. fl 

Mr. Goodwin, parson of Stanway, an ale-house haunter.*""* 
Mr. Hewet, parson of Copford, sometime an apothecary, 
and an ale-house haunter, ff 
Mr. Burgis, of Fingringhoe. %t 
Mr. Kirkbie, parson of Eaft Donniland. |||| 
Mr. Carter, parson of Walton. §§ 
Mr. Chaplin, vicar of Little Claclxm. M 
Mr. Warne, curate of Welie.*** 



* Thos. Newton, 4th June, 1583. 
N. ii. 346. DiecT in May, 1607. 
Newton was a considerable author. He is 
best known as a Latin poet, by his Illustrium 
aliquot Anglorum Encomia, London, 4to, 
at the end of Leland's Latin works. He 
left a legacy to his parifhioners to buy 
ornaments for their church. Wood, Ath. 
Ox. i. 338, 339 j Strype, Annals hi. 658, 
744; Whitgift i. 3. 

f Philip Silgate, 18th March, 1578. 
Died before Dec, 1596. N. 80. 

X Robert Andrews, 20th July, 1579. 
Died before Feb., 1586. N. ii. 636. 

1 1 William Adams, 23 rd June, 1575. 
N. i. 186, p. 168. 

§ Colne Engaine. John Parkinson, 
1 6th May, 1572. He died before May, 
161 8. N. ii. 188. Parkinson seems to 
have been one of Knyvefs predecessors 
at Milend, 1555 — 1560. N. ii. 420. 
Fie had also changed with the times. 

^[ Henry Damyan, 22nd Jan., 1572. 
He died before March, 1588. N. 574. 



** John Goodwyn, 5th March, 1570. 
Died before May, 1588. N. ii. 554. 

ff Robert Hewett r 9th Sept., 1572. 
N. ii. 192. 

XX Edward Burges, 27th March, 1572. 
Died before June, 1589. N. ii. 267. 
He had previously been Vicar of Elmsted, 
1564 — 1570, N. ii. 2445 and was now 
also Rector of Wivenhoe, 8th July, 1572. 
N. ii. 679, p. 167. 

UK William Kirkby, 28th March, 
1 57 1. Died before Jan., 1590. N. ii. 
215. 

§§ Walton-le-Soken, William Carter, 
21st Oct., 1561. He died before 16th 
Jan. 1588. N. ii. 630. 

^Jf[ William Chaplen, 23rd April, 
1575. Died before Dec. 1689. N. ii. 
154. He was also Rector of Frinton, 
1575, 1576. N. ii. 278. 

### The Re£k>r was Bartholomew 
Glascock, 27th Nov., 1580. N. ii. 666. 
He was also Rector of Bobbingworth. 
Infra. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



97 



Mr. Ofborne, parson of Alford.* 

Mr. Harridaunce, parson of Frating. f 

Mr. Wingfield, curate of Manningtree and Myftley.J 

Mr. Sayer, vicar of Wrabness. || 

Mr. Caire, vicar of Bradfleld. § 

Mr. White, vicar of Ramsea, presented for his scandalous 
life upon certain articles directed from the Queen's Majefty's 
Council, and also indicted for a common barrater. Witness 
the Records and Dr. Withers.^" 

Mr. King, vicar of Bromley Parva.*"* 

Mr. Rochefter, parson of Much Okeley.ff 

Mr. More, curate of Harwedge. %% 

Mr. Darnell, vicar of Much Bentley. || || 

The curate of Little Bentley. §§ 

The curate of Little Ocley.1Hl" 

The curate of Salcot, an alehouse haunter. 

Mr. Goodwin, curate of .*** 

Mr. Disborow, curate of Fering. fff 



* Arlesford, Alresford. Samuel Os- 
borne, 4th April, 1578. Died before 
July, 1602. 

f Samuel Harridance, 5th 061., 1576. 
Died before Nov., 1607. N. ii. 276. 

I The Rector was Richard Jones, 
13 th Jan., 1580. Died before Jan., 
1585. N. ii.. 422. 

|| Thomas Sayer, 3rd March, 1565. 
Died before 23rd Dec, 1608. 

§ Edward Card, 8th Feb., 1577. 
Died before Nov., 1587. N. ii. 81. 

^[ John White, 30th April, 1575. 
Died before Oct., 1592. N. ii. 485; 
Withers, p. 

* # Ralph King, 1st March, 1579. 
Died before June, 161 1. N. ii. 99. 

ff Thomas Rochefter, 6th Feb., 1 56 1. 
Died before June, 161 3. N. ii. 445. 

XX The Vicar of Dovercourt was 
Hugh Branham, 7th Oft., 1574. N. ii. 



220. He held the rectory of Little 
Okeley in 1579, ib. 446; and about the 
same date that of Peldon also. He died 
before April, 161 5, ib. 467, see p. 104. 

|| || Robert Dernell, 2nd Nov., 1585. 
He died before Feb., 1601. N. ii. 50. 

§§ The Rector was Edward Giles, 13th 
Jan., 1573. He resigned before Oct., 
1587. N. ii. 52. He also held Mose, 
1 8th Nov., 1584. Died before Oft., 
1 61 6. N. ii. 425, see p. 104. 

Iff Note ii. 

*** Layer de la Hay. Roger Goodwin ? 
N. ii. 379. 

fff The Vicar was Edward Nowell, 
26th Aug., 1564. Refigned before June, 
1603. N. ii. 260. Nowell had held 
Chignell Smeley, 1569 — 1575, N. ii. 
139 j and was also Incumbent of Pattis- 
wick, April, 1575, ib. 465, p. 104. 



H 



9 8 



Appendix to Chap. IF. 



Mr. Ellis, curate of Abberton, sometime a linen draper. * 

Mr. Warrener, of West Mersea, an adulterer, f 

Mr. Shillburie, parson of St. Nicholas. 

Mr. Holland, curate of St. Buttulphs. 

Mr. Philipps, curate of Berechurch, a drunkard. 

Mr. Golde, curate of Trinity, also sometime a mender of 
saddles and pannels. 

Mr. Walford, parson of St. Marie's. J 

Mr. Amiat, vicar of Boreham, an alehouse haunter and 
gamefter. || 

Mr. Stere, vicar of Little Baddow, also a gamefter, some- 
time a tailor. § 

Mr. Feme, parson of Sandon, heretofore a frier, now a 
careless minifter ; doth not preach j indicted and found a 
common barrater. 1T 



* The Rector was Peter Wentworth, 
2nd Dec, 1578. Resigned before May, 
1 591. N. ii. 3. Wentworth was also 
Rector of Bromley Magna, 14th Sept., 

1 581, which he held till his death before 
May, 1600. N. ii. 97. He held the 
sinecure of Geftingthorpe, 15th Aug., 

1582. N. ii. 28. He was also Chaplain 
to Lord Darcy. He publifhed a sermon 
on Ps. ii. 10, 11, London, 1587, and 'is 
the same, if I mifcake not,' Newcourt 
says, ' who wrote an exhortation to Oueen 
Elizabeth, and a ' Discourse of the true 
and lawful successor,' printed in 1598. 
Wood, Fasti, i. 258, see p. 104. 

f Francis Warner, 1st Sept., 1580. 
Resigned before Sept., 1590. N. ii. 415. 

J These six parifhes are all in Col- 
chefter. There is no entry of a rector of 
St. Nicholas at that date, N. ii. 177; 
neither is there any of an incumbent of 
St. Botolph's, N. ii. 166, or Berechurch, 
N. ii. 53, or at St. Mary's; but the Rev. 
C. A. L'Ofte kindly informs me that the 
name of John Walfore occurs in the 
parim regifters about that date, see Infra. 



The entry in Newcourt for Trinity, is 
Robert Good, 22nd Oct., 1585. ii. 182. 
Good was afterwards Vicar of Tolleshunt 
Major, 1590 — 1615. N. ii. 604; see 
also p. 167; Gold, Infra, p. 104. 

|| Gilbert Annande ? 14th Sept., 1567. 
Died before Jan., 161 1. N. 75. 

§ Henry Steare, 14th May, 1570. 
Died before Dec, 1591. N. ii. 27. 

^[ Patrick Ferae, 31st May, 1567, 
on the refignation of Alvey. Feme died 
before Jan., 1587. His predecessor was 
the diftinguifhed Matter of the Temple, 
Richard Alvey. Alvey was Rector of 
Thorrington, 1538 — 1554; Rector at 
Grinfted, near Colchefter, 1546 — 1548 ; 
at which laft date he became Rector of 
Sandon, on the presentation of Sir John 
Gate. In 1552 he was installed Canon 
of Weftminfter. He was deprived of his 
canonry, and the rectories of Thorrington 
and Sandon, on the acceflion of Mary in 
1554, and then became an exile. He 
returned on the accession of Elizabeth, 
and was reftored to the rectories of 
Thorrington and Sandon, and also to his 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



99 



Mr. Pekins, parson of South Hanningfleld, sometime a 
fishmonger, now a button maker ; a very careless and in- 
sufficient minifter ; an alehouse haunter. * 

Mr. Palmer, parson of Widford, heretofore a serving man 
or a soldier, a gamefter, and pot companion .... was called 
to the spiritual court for the same. Witness, William Seredge, 
with others, f 

Mr. Wingate, parson of Margetting. J 

Mr. Binder, curate of Blackmore, sometime a sow gelder. || 

The curate of Mountnessing. § 

The vicar of Bromfleld. %. 

Mr. Kendall, curate of Roxwell, reported to be a purloiner. 

The parson of Ramsden Bellows."** 

Mr. Driwood, parson of Downham, a gamefter. f f 

The parson of Little Burfted, a gamefter. fj 

Mr. Tailor, parson of Wickford. || || 

Mr. Parker, parson of Shenfield, sometime also a petti- 
fogger. §§ 



canonry at Weftminfter. He recovered 
Thorrington in 1565, and Sandon in 
1567. In 1 571 he became Rector of 
Burfted Parva, which he retained till 
1576. He was appointed Mafter of the 
Temple 1559, and died in 1584. His 
successor at the Temple was Richard 
Hooker. Newc. in locc 5 Cooper, Ath. 
Cant, i 4915 Strype, Cranmer 3155 
Zurich Letters ii. 255, iii. 755, 763 j 
Walton's Life of Hooker. 

* John Pokyns, 28th Oct., 1577. 
Died before April, 1598. N. ii. 308. 

f Henry Palmer, 2nd July, 1563. 
Died before May, 1589. N. ii. 662. 

X David Wingate, 5th Feb., 1 571. 
N. ii. 406. 

|| Edwardu Binder, still there in 1578. 
N. ii. 65. 

§ The vicar was Anthony Brazieo 
nth Feb., 1562. Resigned before Feb., 

LofC. 



1605. N. ii. 430. Brazier was also 
Rector of Ingateftone from 1566 to his 
death in 1609; hence the curacy. See 
p. 105. 

f George Parnell, 8th March, 1582. 
Died before March, 1620. N. ii. 96. 

** Robert Booth, 2nd March, 1577. 
Died before Nov. 1606. N. ii. 486. 
Robert Booth, fellow of St. John's, 
Cambridge, 1573. Strype's Annals ii. i. 
451. 

ff Wm. Drywood, 12th Oct., 1574. 
Died before May, 1608. N. ii. 221. 

XX Stephen Luddington, 25th June, 
1576. Died before Nov., 1590. This 
was Richard Alvey's successor here. N. 
ii. 118. 

|| || John Taylor, 21st Sept., 1572. 
Died before Aug. 1591. N. ii. 656. 

§§ Robert Parker, 8th Jan., 1575. 
Died before April, 1604. Newc. ii. 506. 

H 2 



100 



Appendix to Chap. IF. 



Mr, Brown, curate of Laingdon."* 

The parson of Butte fburie. 

Mr. Dixon, parson of Leighs Parva. f 

Mr. Beecher, minifter of Chadwell. J 

Mr. Jollie, parson of Thundersley, a gamefler. || 

The parson of Doddinghurst. § 

Mr. Martyn, of Standford. 

Mr. Walker, of East Tilbury, 

Mr. Lewen, of Bulvan. IT 

Mr. Pannell, curate of Paglefham."** 

Mr. Saundes, of Sudminfter, a gamester, ft 

Mr. Stret, parson of Little Hennie. %% 

Mr. Mingie, vicar of Bulmer. || || 

Mr. Nicholls, parson of Much Eson.§§ 

Mr. Darloe, parson of Ugle, a common swearer, a proude 
careless man, a riotous man ; he hath absent from his benefice 
and preacheth not. Witnesses, John Hockley and George 
Haggis, f 1T 

Mr. White, of Fobbin.*** 



* Laingdon with Bafildon ? The 
re&or was John Walker, see ante p. 63, 
12th Nov., 1573. He now also held the 
prebend of Mora, in the Cathedral of 
St. Paul's, and was Archdeacon of EfTex. 
He died in 1588. N. i.73. 

f Robert Dixon, 23rd March, 1567. 
N. ii. 387. He was afterwards Redlor of 
Althorn, 21st June, 1593. N. ii. 10. 

X James Beacher, 6th Feb., 1584. 
Died before 14th July, 1600. N. ii. 125. 
Beacher preceded Amadas, p. 92, at 



Hallingbury Magna, 1582 — 158; 



N. 



ii. 296. 

|| Thomas Jolye, 16th Nov., 1569. 
Died before April, 1600. N. ii. 587. 

§ Robert Comyn, 7th May, 1584. 
Died before Aug., 1610. N. ii. 223. 

^[ William Lowen, 31st May, 1570. 
N. ii. 107. 

# * Howell had juft been deprived. 



His successor, Richard Langley, was not 
admitted, according to Newcourt, until 
Feb., 1599. Langley afterwards, 1608, 
had the Re&ory of Lachingdon, and held 
both livings at his death before 161 5. 
N. ii. 355. 

ft George Sandys (Sandes), 4th Oct., 
1566. Died before 1591. N. ii. 537. 

XX William Strutt, 12th March, 1577. 
Died before March, 1620, N. ii. 328. 

|| Robert Mingaye (Mingay), 17th 
May, 1587. Died before Oct., 1598. 
N. ii. 101. 

§§ Nicholas Nicholls, 19th Nov., 
1576. Died before Jan., 1605. N. ii. 
236. He was Redlor of St. Martin, Iron- 
monger Lane, in 1568. N. i. 412. 

f ^f George Darlee, 16th Feb., 1580. 
Refigned before Jan., 1596. N. ii. 614. 

### Philip White, 7th Aug., 1577. 
N. ii. 218. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



101 



II. A survey of the double beneficed men in Essex : — 

Mr. Sommerton, parson of Fockfhead. * 

Mr. Mullins, parson of Bocking. f 

Mr. Jacques, parson of Ashon. 

Mr. Corbet, parson of Otten Belcamp. J 

Mr. Le Grice, parson of Alphamfton. || 

The parson of Pebmarsh. § 

Mr. Woodthorp, of Lamersh.^l 

Mr. Dove, ofWalden.** 

Mr. Swinoe, parson of Wickham.ft 

Dr. Sherbrooke, parson of Afhdon. %% 

Mr. Fletcher, parson of Barnlton. || || 

Mr. Vaughan, of Much Dunnow. §§ 



* Thomas Sommerton, p. 90. 

f p. 62. 

% Thomas Corbett, 30th Aug., 1582. 
Refigned before May, 1591. N. ii. 45. 
He was now also Vicar of Gestingthorpe, 
1583— 1588. ii. 281. p. 88. 

|| Nicholas Grise, Le Gris, 29th Oct., 
1567. Died before July, 1593. N. ii. 8. 

§ Luke Clapham, 30th Sept., 1584. 
Resigned before 14th Nov., 1604. N. 
ii. 466. 

f[ John Woodthorpe, p. 89. 

* # Thomas Dove, p. 90. 

ff Wickham Bonant. William Swynoe, 
Swynow, 1556. N. ii. 660. He was 
also Rector of Chiihill Parva, 17th May, 
1570. Died before March, 1586. N. ii. 
151. 

XX Edmund Serebrooke, Sherebrooke, 
147, 20th Nov., 1565. N. ii. 16. The 
name of Edmund Sherbrook appears 
among the fignatures to two petitions from 
certain members of the University of 
Cambridge to Sir W. Cecil, in favor of 
Thos. Cartwright. Strype, Annals 415, 
417. 

|| || Henry Fletcher, 29th Oft., 1597. 
Refigned before Feb., 1610. N. ii. 39. 



He was also Rector of Eafton Parva, 16th 
June, 1582. He died before 1634. N. ii. 
238. 

§§ Richard Vaughan, afterwards Bishop 
of London. Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 450. 
No. 194. He had been Rector of Chip- 
ping Ongar, 1578 — 1581. He was now 
Rector of Little Canefield, Prebendary of 
Holborn, ( N. in locc.) and Chaplain to 
his uncle, Bifhop Aylmer. Newcourt gives 
the date of his admiffion to Dunmow, a* 
19th Feb., 1591, and Cooper follows 
him. Newcourt gives his admiffion as per 
refig King. This was Robert King, whose 
preferments I trace as follows : Admitted 
Prebend of Newington, by Aylmer, 3rd 
Dec, 1577. N. i. 188. Vicar of Dun- 
mow, also on presentation of Aylmer, 
15th Nov., 1578. N. ii. 225. And Rec- 
tor of Orsett, 23rd Nov., 1579. N. ii. 
454, on the presentation of the Queen. 
Did not this last preferment create the 
vacancy which Aylmer filled up by the 
presentation of his nephew ? I suspect some 
misprint in the dates in Newcourt, and 
that Vaughan now held three benefices 
befides his Chaplaincy. He refigned Little 
Canefield before Jan., 1590. N. ii. 124; 



102 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



Mr. Somes, parson of Shering and Stow, a hunter, a 
gamester, and preachet not, yet a Mafter of Arts.'* 
Mr. Drurie, parson of High Rodding. f 
Mr. Gravet, parson of Little Laver, is 



glutton, and a non-refident. Witnesses, 
William Buries, of Abbots Rooding. J 
Mr. Shipton, of Northweale. || 
Mr. Rennolds, of Stapleford Abbot. § 
Mr. Shaw, parson of Moonit (sic.) ^T 
Mr. Glascock, of Bobbingworth. ** 



a drunkard and a 
John Collin and 



and in 1591 he was admitted to the 
Rectory of Moreton, which he retained 
with his other preferments until his ele- 
vation to the See of Bangor, 1^95. He 
was afterwards translated to Chefter, 1597, 
and thence to London, 1604. Robert 
King, Vaughan's predeceffor at Dunmow, 
was buried at Orsett. 

* Leonard Solme, 20th Feb., 1572. 
Died before Dec, 1613. N. ii. 524. He 
was admitted Rector of Stow Maries, 31st 
March, 1 57 1. Solme retained both livings 
till his death. N. ii. 564. 

f Henry Drury, 1st July, 1568. N. 
ii. 501. He was also Rectorof Tendring, 
3rd Dec, 1584; was admitted 3rd Dec, 
1584. He died before Sept., 1613. He 
was presented to Tendring by William 
Drury, L.L.D., who had been Abp. 
Parker's Secretary, and was then Judge 
of the Prerogative Court. N. ii. 577 $ 
Strype, Parker i. 454, ii. 154; Cooper, 
Ath. Cant. ii. 74. 

% Will. Gravett, Gravet, 3rd Dec, 
1569. Died before nth April, 1599. 
N. ii. 370. He was also Vicar of St. 
Sepulchre's, London, 8th Oct., 1566, 
N. i. 534, and prebendary of Willesdon, 
28th July, 1567; all three of which 
preferments he held till his death. N. i. 
299. He was appointed by the Council 
to confer with Papifts, 1582. Strype, Whit- 
gift, i. 198. He also held the Rectory of 



Bradfield, in Berks. Cooper, Ath. Cant, 
ii. 260. 

§ Thomas Shipton, 29th Sept., 1570. 
Died before Aug., 1592. N. ii. 644. 
He was also Rector of High Laver, 28th 
Dec, 1566. N. ii. 368. 

§ Richard Reynolds, 7th Aug., 1568. 
Died before Dec, 1606. N. ii. 555. 
He was also Rector of Lambourne, 24th 
May, 1569. N. ii. 360. He had only 
juft refigned the Vicarage of Weft Thur- 
rock, to which he had been admitted 2nd 
May, 1578. He was M.D., but had 
been ejected by the College of Physicians 
in 1 571, as being very ignorant and un- 
learned. He was then also imprisoned 
for having practised two years without a 
license. In 1579 he had been summoned 
by Aylmer to answer certain allegations, 
and when the conftable served the sum- 
mons, he had so abused him, that he 
was caft for it into the Marshalsea prison. 
Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 444. The con- 
stable was Francis Bushe. In the S. P. O. 
Dom. Ser. Elizabeth, ccxxxiii. 45, there 
is his original petition for release. 

<([ Possibly William Shaw, admitted 
Rector of Chingford, 19th March, 1583, 
who was also Rector of Cranford, Mid- 
dlesex. N. ii. 148, i. 594. 

** Bartholomew Glascock, admitted 
1 ith March, 1582. He was also Rector 
of Weeley, p. 96. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 103 

Mr. Hussman, vicar of Canendon. * 

Mr. Dowell, vicar of Little Wakering-. f 

Mr. Beriman, parson of Rochford. J 

Mr. Barwick, parson of Much Stambridge. [| 

Mr. Hedlam, parson of Raleigh. § 

Mr. Dewbanke, of Bradwell. 11 

Mr. Simson, of Tillingham. ** 

Mr. Freeke, of Purleigh. ff 

Mr. Bembridge, of Bracksted, curate at Tollesburie, an ale- 
house haunter, a companion with drunkards, and a gross abuser 
of the Scriptures. Witness, Edward Paine and Courtman of 
Tolsburie. %% 

Mr. Jansen, parson of Langford. || || 

Mr. Hailes, Vicar of Whitham ; no preacher, one that gave 
a sum of money to two men to conceale .... he hath made a 
confirmed lease of his benefice to his son for a small thing 
yearly, and that for many years. Witness to his evil manners, 
Mr. Sammes, of Langford. §§ 

Mr. Chapman, parson of Black Notley. HIT 

Mr. Blage, of Much Brackfted*** 

* John Howseman, p. 93. Odt. 1604. N. ii. 476; Cooper, Ath. 

f Francis Dewell, p. 93. Cant. ii. 393. He was also a Canon and 

% John Berryman, 9th Jan., 1572. Archdeacon of Norwich. Strype, Whit- 
Died before Dec, 1617. He had been gift i. 408, ii. 145. 

Rector of Shelly, 1568— 1574, and was JJ The Vicar of Tollesbury, Francis 

now also Vicar of Dagenham, 29th Oct., Searle, also held the Rectory of Tolles- 

1579. N. ii. 497, 521, 203, see p. 71. hunt Major, and the Vicarage of Tolles- 

|| Thomas Barwick, 1st April, 1577. hunt Darcy. N. ii. 602, 604, 605. 

Died before Dec, 1588. N. ii. 542. || || Lancelot Jannson, 2nd Sept., 1585. 

§ John Headland, 15th 0£t., 1582. §§ Edward Hale, p. 153. Sammes was 

Died before Jan., 1593. N. ii. 483. of Langford Hall. Mor. i. 381. 

f[ John Debanke, p. 94. qq[ William Chapman, 29th Sept., 

** A Nicholas Simpson was Canon of 1570. Died before Jan. 1604. N. ii. 443. 

Canterbury at this date. Wood, Faft. *** Thomas Blage, 9th Sept., 1570. 

180; Strype, Parker i. 103,433; Whit- Died before 12th May, 1612. He was 

gifti. 596. one of the Queen's Chaplains. N. ii. 91. 

ff John Freake, son of Edmund, p. He was also Rector of St. Vedast, London. 

69, 22nd Sept., 1574. Died before N. i. 565 ; Wood, Fast. 124. 



104 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



Mr. Ware, parson of Stifford. * 

Mr. Rider, parson of South Uckendon. f 

Mr. Wilmot, parson of North Uckendon. % 

Mr. Golding, parson of Cranham. || 

Mr. Monck, parson of Wakes Colne. § 

Mr. Nowell, vicar of Feering. 11 

Mr. Burgis, parson of Wivenhoe. ** 

Mr. Branham, parson of Harwich, ft 

Mr. Simpson, vicar of Kirbie. {J 

Mr. Giles, parson of Mose. || || 

Mr. Glascock, vicar of Weelie. §§ 

Mr. Forth, vicar of Emstead. 

Mr. Wentworth, parson of Much Bromley. UK 

Mr. Kitchen, parson of Stifted. *** 

Mr. Low, vicar of St. Leonard, ttt 

Mr. Walford, vicar of All-Hallowes. JJJ 

Mr. Holmes, of St. James. || 

Mr. Gold, of St. Martin. 



: 5 8 3 . 
449- 



1565- 
. He 



* Thomas Ware, 15 th June, 1575. 
Died before Feb., 16 10. N. ii. 560. 
He was also Rector of Orsett, 21st Nov., 
1584, N. 454, and had juft refigned the 
Rectory of St. Mary-le-Bow, ib. i. 439. 

-f- John Rider, 20th Nov., 
Refigned before Aug., 1590. N. i 

X Robert Wilmot, p. 95. 

|| John Golding, p. 95. 

§ Robert Monke, 7th Nov., 
Died before Dec. 1601. N. ii. 19] 
was also Rector of Woodham Ferrers, 19th 
Feb., 1560, ib. 682. 

^[ Edward Nowell, p. 97. 

** Edward Burgis, 96. 

■f-f Hugh Branham, 97. 

XX William Simpson, 29th Jan., 1579. 
Died before June, 1588. N. ii. 353. 
He had been Vicar of Little Clacton, 
1564 — 1575, ib. 154, and Rector of 
Little Okeley, 1565 — 1579, ib. 446. 

|| || Edward Giles, 97. 



§§ P. 96. 

ff[ Peter Wentworth, p. 97. 

*** P. 63; 1 2th April, 1561. He 
was also Rector of Inworth, 13th April, 
1562. Died before Jan., 1599. N. ii. 
562, 349. 

ff f Colchefter. Thomas Lowe, 9th 
May, 1582. Died before Aug., 161 5. 
N. ii. 173. He was also Vicar of Gos- 
field, 28th July, 1579, ib. 286. Lowe 
was admitted to the Rectory of St. 
Leonard's on the refignation of Thomas 
Upcheare, p. 78. 

XXX All Saints, Colchefter. John Wal- 
ford, 17th Oct., 1 57 1. Refigned before 
May, 1609. N. ii. 164. He was also 
Vicar of St. Mary's, Colchefter, see 98. 

|| || || Colchefter. Robert Holmes, 9th 
March, 1585. N.ii. 167. He was also 
Rector of Grinfted, Colchefter, 26th Jan., 
1585, ib. 287. 

§§§ Colchefter, see p. 98. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 



105 



Mr. Wardle, parson of South Fambridge. * 
Mr. Brasier, parson of Ingatestone. f 
Mr. Pindar, parson of Stocke. J 
Mr. Mascall, parson of Woodham Walter. || 
Dr. Walker, parson of Laingdon. § 
Mr. Draper, parson of Curringham. fl" 
Mr. Harwood, of West Horndon. ** 
Mr. Adams, vicar of Earl's Colne. ft 
Mr. Ellis, parson of Buers. %% 

III. Non-resident : — 

Bartholomew Barefoot, very young in yeares, presented to 
his benefice by his father ; a non-refident. 

The parson of Quendon : a double-beneficed man ; he liveth 
absent from his place, where there hath been neither Divine 
Service nor preaching since Chriftide. || || 

Mr. Banckes, parson of Moreton, and canon of Chrift Church, 
in Oxon, who by reason of age is not able to preach, nor dis- 
tinctly to read, yet he provideth none among his people to do 
good. Witness, Robert Oyley. §§ 



* Nicholas Wardall, 5th Dec, 1581. 
Died before 1st March, 1586. N. ii. 
254. He was also Rector of Hawkeswell, 
6th Sept., 1564, ib. 320. 

+ Antony Brazier, p. 99. 

% William Pinder, 2nd April, 1580. 
N. ii. 56?,. 

|| Alexander Maskall, 3rd May, 
1573. Died before Dec, 1619. N. ii. 
685. He was also Rector of Lees Magna, 
1588, ib. 386. 

§ C. Basildon. John Walker, 12th 
Nov., 1573. N. ii. 556. He was also 
Archdeacon of Essex, and held the prebend 
of Mora, ib. i. 73. He died about 1608. 
Strype, Annals i. i. 489, iii. ii. 362, iii. i. 
329, ii. 232 ; Parker ii. 84, 267, iii. 186 ; 
Aylmer, 29, 34. 5 Whitgift i. 198, see pp. 
63, 100. 



9\ Robert Draper, 12th Dec, 1578- 
N. ii. 194. 

** William Harwood, 10th Feb., 
1 541. Died before 1591. N. ii. 342. 
He had therefore changed twice. Pro- 
bably the Rector of St. Clement's Danes, 
whom Newcourt calls Harward. Strype 
calls him Harewood. Aylmer, 101, 102. 

■\\ William Adams, p. 96. 

XX Bures Gifford. Henry Ellis, 12th 
Jan., 1 57 1. Religned before Nov., 
1588. N. ii. 102. 

[ || The Rector seems to have been 
Roger Philips, 14th May, 1585. Died 
before Sept., 1632. N. ii 477. 

§§ Robert Banks. He had been 
Rector from 1548 to 1554, at which 
latter date he was deprived. He was 
reftored after 1559, and died before 1591 . 
N. ii. 424. Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 109, 



106 Appendix to Chap. IK 

IV. A note of the sufficient painful and carefull preachers 
and ministers in Essex, who have been sundry times molefted 
and vexed, partly for refufing the late urged subscription, and 
partly for not wearing the surplice, and omitting the cross in 
baptism and the like : * 

c Mr Northee, preacher of Colchefter ; suspended by the 
Bifhop of London for the space of a whole yeare.' This 
was George Northye, otherwise spelt Nordthie. It appears from 
the pariih regifters, that the Northyes were a numerous family 
in Colchefter at that date ; it should therefore seem that George 
Northye was a native of the town. He was of Clare Hall, Cam- 
bridge. Northye was appointed Town Lecturer in 1580. 
There is a lengthened correspondence on the subject of his 
suspenfion among the Morant MSS. in the Colchefter Museum. 
In answer to Sir Thomas Heneage, who interfered in his behalf, 
Aylmer writes under date October 10,1583. c I cannot set Mr. 
Northye at libertee, unless he will subscribe unto these articles 
. . . especially . . . that he will with preaching joyne the 
minifterynge of the sacraments, and the sayinge of Service, and 
the Book of Common Prayer, that he dothe allow of the mynis- 
terie of England and the lawfull callinge . . . allowed by 
ftatute, and that he will subscribe to the articles of the Synod of 
London ... if he will not yield to these thynges I may not 
in any wise re-admitt him.' On the 14th of October following, 
the Bailiffs' petition the Bifhop c to grant hym lybertie to preache 
agayne, which shall be no small joy to our hearts .... con- 
sideryng the man ys godlye, learned, and in lyffe unexceptional ! ' 
The next day following, the Bailiffs entreated Sir Thomas 
Heneage to interfere a second time. But still the Bifhop refused 
to yield. In March, 1584, they twice appealed to Sir Francis 
Walfingham to intercede for them, saying that Northye had 
been suspended c for what cause they knew not, and praying 

* I have preferred to insert such but I have carefully diftinguifhed such 

biographical notices as I have been able to passages as are reprinted from the ' Survey,' 

collect, in the text, here, because of the by inverted commas, 
length to which some of them extend ; 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 1 07 

that he might not be dealt with otherwise than other minifters 
and lecturers around us.' Aylmer now replied in November, 
that Northye c muft subscribe. There can be no great want of 
preachers, there is Mr. Upchurche (sic) a good minifter; ' and 
added c that he and Parker have appointed Mr. Steare to fill 
Northye's place.' The Bailiffs again endeavoured to prevail with 
Aylmer, first through the Earl of Leicefter and Robert Earl of 
Warwick in December, and afterwards through William Cole, 
who is described as a ' former lecturer,' in the June following. 
Cole was as unsuccessful as his predecefTors had been. Aylmer's 
answer was, that he would not give Northye liberty unless 
' commanded by the Queen's Majestic' Northye was restored 
however, but whether he yielded to the prelate's demands, or 
whether the Queen herself at length interfered, does not appear. 
Northye died in 1593, and was buried at St. James's, Colches- 
ter. The following is the entry in the parish register. 'Anno 
Domini 1593. Colceftriae Luctus et Letitia. George Nord- 
thee, Preacher of the Town of Colchefler, departed this life 
XXIII daie of Julie, and was buried the XXIIII of the 
same moneth. 

Corpore non magnus, magnus fuit alta docendo 
Vexibus que imbellis, verbis fortiffimus Autor 
Diftichion in Landes ejusdem Georg Nordthie.' * 

' Mr. Newman was suspended almost half a year for not 
subscribing.' This was Laurence Newman, Vicar of Cogges- 
hall, who was admitted to that living February 10th, 1575, 
on the presentation of Robert, afterwards Earl of Warwick, and 
then Lord Rich. Newman was buried at Coggeshall, March 18, 
1559. His successor was Thomas Stoughton, who was deprived 
in 1606. t 

* Sir Thos. Heneage, p. 81. The Ath. Cant. i. 194, 339 j Fast. 109. 

Bailiffs in 1583 were Robert Mott, and Cole was a personal friend of Aylmer's. 

Thomas Cock 5 and in 1584, Thos. Strype, Aylmer no ; Thomas Upcheare, 

Laurence, and Richard Lambart. Mor. p. 78. 

MSS. Col. Mus. Sir Francis Walsingham \ Newcourt ii. 161. For the date of 

p. 74. William Cole was of Corpus Newman's death I am indebted to my 

Chrifti, Oxford. He was one of the friend, Rev. B. Dale, who took it from 

translators of the Geneva Bible. Wood, the parifh regifter, p. 131. 



108 Appendix to Chap. IV. 

' Mr. Dikes, preacher of Coggefhall, was suspended about 
half a year for not subscribing.' The Chriftian name of Dyke 
was William. He was the father of Jeremiah Dyke, after- 
wards Vicar of Epping, and also it should appear, of Daniel 
Dyke, the suffering minifter of St. Alban's. Brooks has con- 
founded him with his son Daniel. It is possible that this is 
the Dyke who, in the matters objected to Richard Rich, is 
described as c one that inveighed against statute-proteftants, 
injunction-men, and such as love to jump with the law.'"* 

' Mr. Rogers, preacher of Wethersfield, was suspended a 
long time for not subscribing.' Richard Rogers, he was son 
or grandson of a steward of that surname to the Earls of 
Warwick. He was educated at Cambridge, and was lecturer 
at Wethersfield for forty-six years. After his suspension bv 
Aylmer, he was reftored through the influence of Sir Robert 
Wroth. But in 1598, and also in 1603, he was again in trouble. 
On the 25th of April, 1605, he makes this entry in his diarv : 
c I was much in prayer about my troubles, and my God granted 
me the desires of my heart. For, by the favour and influence 
of William, Lord Knollys, God hath, to my own comfort and 
the comfort of my people, delivered me once more out of all 
my troubles. Oh, that I may make a holy use of my liberty ! 
But it greatly troubles me, that after labouring betwixt thirty 
and forty years in the miniftry, I am now accounted unworthy 
to preach, while so many idle and scandalous persons enjoy 
their ease and liberty.' He was frequently cited by Richard 
Bancroft for nonconformity. During the episcopate of Richard 
Vaughan, Rogers enjoyed much liberty. On the 30th of May, 
1606, he writes : c If I preach no more, I heartily thank God 
for my liberty both at home and abroad for this year and a half, 
and I hope with some fruit; the bishop has been my friend;' 
and on the 2nd of April : c This week came the painful news 
of our Bifhop Vaughan's death, who, for twenty-eight months, 

* Ps. 73, 78. His name appears in Strype, Aylmer, 104, 201, 203 ; Ann.iii. 

the parifh regifters at Coggeshall. Strype, 691 ; ii. 479 ; Brooks' Lives ii. 225 ; see 

Annals iii. i. 214; Rich, p. 72. p. 73. 
Jeremiah Dyke, p. , Daniel Dyke, 



Appendix to Chap. IF. 109 

being all the time he continued, permitted all the godly 
minifters to live peaceably and to enjoy liberty in their 
ministry.' He was again a sufferer under Thomas Ravis, who 
succeeded Vaughan. Ravis protefted in the presence of 
Rogers : ' By the help of Jesus, I will not leave one preacher 
in my diocese who doth not subscribe and conform.' Rogers 
died at Wethersfield, April 21, 16 18. He was the father of 
Daniel and Ezekiel Rogers, and the immediate predecessor of 
Stephen Marfhall. Bifhop Kennet says of Rogers : c that 
England hardly ever brought forth a man who walked more 
closely with God.' * 

i Mr. Whiting, parson of Panfleld, was greatly molefced for 
matters of the Book ; he had his benefice sequeftered, and a 
day set for his deprivation ; who being notwithstanding released, 
is, ever since the bishop's visitation, suspended for the surplice, 
and hath a day again fixed for his deprivation.' Giles Whiting 
was of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was presented to the 
Recfory of Panfleld by George Cotton, of Panfleld Hall, and 
was admitted 2nd October, 1582. The sentence hanging over 
him at the date of the survey was put in execution before May, 
i 5 8 7 .t 

C Mr. Cornewall, minifler of Mark's Tey, suspended for 

* Chefter. Life of John Rogers, 240, (3) Commentary on the Book of Judges, 

242; Brooks' Lives ii. 231, 234. Sir comprised in 103 Sermons. London, 

Robert was the son of Sir Thomas Wroth, 1615, fol. (4) Samuel's Encounter with 

of Langton and Bradfield Hall, and a grand- Saul, 1. Sam. xv., 13 — 14. London, 

son of Richard, the firft Lord Rich. He 1620. He was buried in the churchyard 

and his father had been in exile in the reign at Wethersfield. The inscription on his 

of Mary. Sir Robert died in 1605-6. tomb is almoft undecypherable. Rogers 

Morant i. 163, ii. 519 j Cooper, Ath. is mentioned by Bancroft as one of a 

Cant. ii. 429. Lord Knollys was the son classis about the Brayntree side, together 

of Sir Francis. His mother was a cousin with Culverwell, Gifford, and others, 

of Elizabeth's. He was Earl of Banbury. ' Dangerous Pofitions,' p. 84. 
Knollys died in 1632. Cooper, Ath. f Newcourt ii. 461. Whiting was 

Cant. ii. 212. He was a great friend of the author of ' Giles Whiting, his short 

the Puritans. Strype, Whitgifti. 309, 633. queftions and answers to be learned of 

Vaughan pp. 92, 101. Rogers wrote, the ignorant before they bee admitted to 

(1) Treatises containing Directions out of the Lord's Supper.' Lond., 8vo., 1 591 . 

Scripture leading to True Happiness. (2) Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 354 ; Cotton, 

Certain Sermons. London, 1612, 4to. Mor. ii. 406. 



no Appendix to Chap. IV. 

not subscribing, whereupon he was forced to leave his charge ; 
and, after having been reftored again, hath now a day set him 
for his deprivation, for not yielding to weare the surplice.' In 
another part of the Regifter there is this note of Cornewall : 
c Reviled openly at Witham, by the bifhop calling him wretch, 
beaft, and committing him to the Pursuivant, &c.' * 

c Mr. Beamont, parson of Eafthorp, was indicted at the 
assizes for matters of the Book, and now, since the bifhop's 
visitation, hath a day set him for his deprivation, for not yielding 
to wear the surplice.' Stephen Beamont, admitted 22nd May, 
1579, on ^ e presentation of Richard Atkins, of Eafthorp Hall. 
Beamont resigned the rectory before November, 1609. f 

' Mr. Wilton, parson of Aldham, indicted at the assizes for 
omitting the surplice and cross in baptism.' % 

c Mr. Farrar, parson of Langham, hath, since the bifhop's 
visitation, a day set him for not yielding to wear the surplice.' 
Thomas Farrar, otherwise called Oxford and also Oxforth, 
was of Benet College, Cambridge, and was ordained bv 
Edmund Grindal, January 14, 1559. He was presented to 
the Rectory of Langham by the Queen, and was admitted 
29th January, 1572. There is this further account of his 
trouble in the MSS. Regifter: 'Being in trouble by reason of not 
wearing the surplice, he procured a letter for the ease of his 
trouble to the Bifhop of London, and carried the said letter to 
him to Fulham, 14th November, 1586. When the bifhop 
demanded of him the cause why he did not wear it, and after 
he had showed it, the bifhop, among many of his speeches there 
uttered, said : That, except the said Mr. Farrar, and all others 
that stood in that case, would yield and become reformable, 
in good faith, he and the reft of the bifhops would deprive 
them shortly, within a quarter of a yeare. . . . He counted it 
no better than rebellion, and added further, that in those things 
that are in their own nature indifferent, .... if the Prince 



* Regifter MSS., 584. informs me, from the regifter, that Wylton 

-f Newcourt ii. 239; Mor. ii. 180. was Reftor from 1563 to 1599. His 

\ The Rev. C. Ballantyne kindly name does not appear in Newcourt. 



Appendix to Chap. IF. 1 1 1 

have once commanded them, .... then not to doe them was 
sin, yea more,' saith he, c that is deadly sin.' Farrar appears 
to have yielded. He continued Rector of Langham until his 
resignation, before September, 1607.* 

c Mr. Forth, presented by the patron to be parson of Much 
Easton, but the bifhop will not admit him without subscrip- 
tion.' 

' Mr. Knevet, parson of Milend, Colchefter, was suspended 
since the bishop's vifitation, for preaching in his own charge 
without a licence.' This was Thomas Knevett, who had only 
just been admitted to the rectory, on the presentation of Sir 
Thomas Lucas, f 

1 Mr. Car, parson of Raine, suspended by the bifhop since his 
last vifitation, for not wearing the surplice, and so standeth 
still.' Roger Carr, admitted 23rd January, 1572, on the pre- 
sentation of Henry Capell, afterwards Sir Henry, of Raine Hall. 
Carr died before the 20th January, 161 1. J 

' Mr. Huckle, minifter of Athorp Rooding, was suspended 
by the bifhop at his laffc visitation, for not yielding to wear the 
surplice, and so standeth still.' John Huckle, of Chrift's 
College, Cambridge. He was suspended in 1583, as c a busy 
man, transgressing the orders appointed in the church, and an 
enemy to the peace of it ; an impugner of the Book and a 
gatherer of night conventicles, and more lately, a busy disputer 
againft Athanasius' Creed.' After he had been some time under 
suspension, Huckle got friends at the council board, who, in 
May, 1584, sent Aylmer the following letter : c After our hearty 
commendations to your lordfhip, this bearer, John Huckle, 
minifter of the Word of God, hath been here before us, who 
doth, with confession of his faith and solemn proteftation, seem 
to detest Arianism with any other heresy that he has been 
charged withal, and offereth both to subscribe to Athanasius' 
Creed and to witnesse to the world by as other demonflrations, 



* Nevvc. ii. 3655 Strype, Grindal, -f Newc. ii. 420. The date or* his 

54. MSS. Register, p. 805. inftitution is 13th March, 1584. 

I Newc. ii. 480. Mor ii. 402. 



112 Appendix to Chap. IV. 

(as) he may make his unfeigned and sincere embracing the 
doctrine contained in the same. So, as being a man, so far as 
we do yet find, clear and sound in religion, and no other matter 
to our knowledge to be proved againft him, we see no cause 
why he should any longer be suspended from the exercise of the 
miniltrv. And, therefore, we do pray of your lordfhip, that you 
will now upon his recognition, revoke your said suspension, and 
use him with all convenient favour, whereby he may be the 
better encouraged and the more able to discharge his duty 
therein as appertaineth, and so we bid your lordship hearty fare- 
well. At Greenwich, 4th March, 1584. Will. Burghley, A. 
Warwick, Fr. Knollise, Fr. Walsingham, Chas. Howard, 
Hen. Sidney.' * Some weeks afterwards, the bifhop replied to 
this : c I dare not reftore Mr. Huckle, who hath shewed him- 
self a dangerous man, not only himself denying Athanasius' 
Creed, but bringing too other preachers into the same error 
of Arianism, which opinion he held againft me in divers con- 
ferences. Wherefore, I may not in good conscience set him 
at liberty until I have better and longer experience of him. If 
I should, I could neither answer to God, her Majeny, nor 
mine own conscience, nor the Church of God. And so I 
take my leave of you, praying God to blesse both you and 
yours. Fulham, 28th April.' \ 

c Mr. Parker, paftor of Deddam, was suspended for not sub- 
scribing, and being resftored again, hath now, since the bifhop's 
vifitation, a day set him for deprivation, for not yielding to weare 
the surplice/ Newcourt gives his chriflian name as Richard, 
but this would seem to be a mistake. His name was Robert. 
Parker had been Rector of North Benflete, 157 1 , 1572. From 
Benflete he removed to West Hanningfield, where he remained 
until his admifiion to the Vicarage of Dedham, 30th June, 
1582, on the presentation of the Queen. After his second per- 
secution he left the county, and was afterwards beneficed at 



* MSS. Regifter. Sir Henry Sydney, f MSS. Regifter. Strype, Annals iii. 

father of Sir Philip. Strype, Whitgift i. i. 354 ; Aylmer, 71 ; Cooper, Ath. Cant. 
168, 169; Wood, Ath. Ox. i. 224. ii. 23. 



Appendix to Chap. IF. 113 

Wilton, in Wiltshire. While at Wilton, Parker publifhed 
c De Descensu Christi ad Inferos,' in answer to Bifhop Bilson's 
' Survey of Christ's Sufferings and Descent into Hell.' In 1607 
he also publifhed C A Scholaftical Discourse against symbolifing 
with Antichrift in the Ceremonies, especially the Signe of the 
Crosse.' Soon after this second book appeared, Bancroft, who 
was now Archbifhop of Canterbury, endeavoured to apprehend 
him, but Parker escaped and went over to Holland. There he 
became preacher to the garrison at Doesburg, where he died in 
16 14. Parker was also the author of c De politia Ecclefiastica.' 
He was the father of Thomas Parker, of Newbury. * 

c Mr. Series, paftor of Lexden, hath, since the bifhop's 
vifitation, a day set him for deprivation, for not yielding to wear 
the surplice.' Robert Searle, admitted 30th May, 1567, on the 
presentation of Thomas, Earl of Sussex. He escaped the threat- 
ened deprivation. The parifh regifters, during the incumbency 
of Searle, to which I have been allowed free access, by the 
courtesy of the Rev. John Papillon, are full of characteriftic 
entries. Under date June 3, 1587, there is an entry of the 
marriage of Robert Cooke, ' then minifter here,' and Anne May- 
nard, widow ; with this addition in Searle's handwriting, ' The 
Lord bless them both.' In 1597 there is another entry in 
Searle's hand : c The firft of October, was buryed in Lexden 
chancell, by the south syde of the communion table, Anna 
Serle, the godly grave and wyfe of Robert Serle, parson of 
Lexden, was the daughter of Mr. William Lorance, of 
Burftall, in Suffolke; when she had lived with the same Robert 
Serle, X yeares and one quarter, and was of the age of some 63 
or more. The Lord have mercy upon me her poor hufband, 
Robert Searle.' Searle himself died in 16 10, and was buried 
at Lexden, on the 14th of March, in that year, f 

c Mr. Lewis, paftor of St. Peter's, Colchefter, suspended at 
the time of the subscription, and being reftored again, hath 



* Newc. ii. 46, 311, 2105 Brooks' \ Newc. ii. 389. Thomas (Ratcliffe), 

Lives, ii. 237 — 240; Wood, Ath. Ox. i. Earl of Sussex, was of Newhall, Borcham. 
463. Mor. ii. 15. 



114 Appendix to Chap. IV. 

now, since the bifhop's last visitation, a day set for deprivation 
for not wearing the surplice.' Robert Lewis was a native of 
Colchefter, and had been Fellow of St. John's College, Cam- 
bridge. At his inftance, his wife Mary by her will, dated 
October 12, 1620, bequeathed a sum of money to be applied to 
the maintenance of a scholar at St. John's. Lewis seems to 
have died before May, 1589. * 

'Mr. Cock, paftor of St. Giles', Colchefter, hath, since the 
bifhop's last visitation, a day set for deprivation, for not yield- 
ing to wear the surplice.' There is a brass tablet on the south 
wall of the nave in St. Giles' Church with the following 
inscription : ' William Cocke, paftor of this church 34 years, 
who was buried 16 19 ; and Anna, his wife, 1625.' 

' Mr. Dent, paftor of South Shoebury, sundry times troubled 
for omitting the crosse and surplice.' Arthur Dent, he was of 
ChrifVs College, Cambridge. He was inftituted to the Rec- 
tory of Shoebury, 17th December, 1580, on the presentation of 
Robert Lord Rich, afterwards Earl of Warwick. He was 
one of the witnesses against Robert Wright in 1582. It would 
appear that Dent married a sifter of Ezekiel Culverwell. He 
died in 1607. Dent publifhed (1) a Sermon of Repentance, 
preached at Lee, in Essex, 7th March, 1581. London, i2mo. 
There were two subsequent editions of this sermon, the last 
appeared in 1643. (2) Exposition of the Articles of our Faith 
by short queftions and answers. London, 8vo. 1591. (3) A 
Paftime for Parents ; or, a Recreation to Pass away the Time : 
contayning the most Principal Grounds of Chriftian Religion. 
London, i2mo. 1603 — 1609. (4) The Ruine of Rome ; or, 
an Expofition upon the whole Revelation. London, 4to. 
1607, reprinted in 8vo. 1622, and in i2mo. 1656. (5) A 
Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven, by way of Dialogue. London, 
i2mo. 1610; this reached the 24th edition in 1637. (6) A 
Learned and Faithful Exposition upon the Lord's Prayer. 
London, i2mo. 16 12 — 16 13. (7) A Sermon of Reftitution. 
Ezekiel Culverwell, in his dedication of the Ruine of Rome 

* Newc. i. 179. Mor. Colchefter, 178. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 115 

to Lord Rich, speaks of Dent as one c whose diligence, yea, 
extreme and unwearied pains in his ministry, publicly, privately, 
at home and abroad for at least four and twenty years, all our 

country can testify And to end with his blessed end, 

his life was not more profitable to others than his death was 
peaceable to himself, scarcely a groan was heard, though his 
fever must needs have been violent which dispatched him in 
three days. Having made a pithy confession of his faith, c this 
faith,' said he, c have I preached ; this faith would I have sealed 
with my blood, if God had so thought good, and tell my 
brethren so.' He afterwards said, ' I have fought a good fight, 
I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.' ' * 

' Mr. Paine, late minister of Tollesburie, was put from his 
charge for refusing to subscribe.' It is possible that this was 
the John Paine who took a leading part in the agitation of the 
c Holy Discipline of the Church described in the word of God.' 
Strype quotes a letter of his, in which he calls upon his brethren 
to c play their part courageously ' against the prelates, and warns 
them that they c could not be discharged of great disloyalty to 
Christ, except they proceeded with practice, and so furthered the 
Lord's cause by suffering.' He was again in trouble for his 
nonconformity in 1590, about which time he, with Cartwright 
and others, was thrown into the Fleet prison. Paine was still 
there in December, 159 1. At that date he, together with his 
companions, petitioned the Privy Council. Strype has printed 
the petition, f 

c Mr. Neguse, parson of Lee, suspended by the bifhop in his 
last vifitation, for not yielding to wear the surplice.' William 
Negus was of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was instituted 
to the Rectory of Lee, 31st March, 1585, on the presentation 
of Robert Lord Rich. The Messrs. Cooper, speaking without 
their usual caution, say, c a statement that he was suspended by 

* Newc. ii. 531 5 Cooper, Ath. Cant. f Strype, Whitgift i. 504, ii. 13, III- 

ii. 471 } Brooks' Lives ii. ill j see pp. 245; Aylmer, 205; Annals iv. 103 ; 
71, 78. Book of Discipline, Neal i. 301 ; Brooks' 

Lives i. 53, ii. 260. 

I 2 



Il6 Appendix to Chap. IF. 

Bishop Aylmer is of course erroneous.' We have the fol- 
lowing account of it from Negus himself. It is addressed to 
certain of his brethren of the county who had similarly suffered, 
and were met for conference : c The cause of my suspension 
was only this : being convented before the bifhop at Witham, 
and then being demanded whether I had worne the surplice 
since my coming to the Lee, my answer was, that as I had not 
it, so I had never refused it, for there was none offered, nor any 
in the parish to be worne. He further asked me if I should 
weare it, if it were provided. My answer was, I desired his 
favor that I might proceed in my ministry until such time as 
there was a surplice made, and that he knew I refused to weare 
it. He, not satisfied with this answer, urged me to say that I 
would weare it, and I would not; but I, standing to my former 
answer, and desiring that it might be accepted, he concluded 
thus : Seeing you will not promise to weare it, we will suspend 
you till you will. Whatsoever the godly brethren shall agree 
upon concerning a supplication for the liberty of us, the 
ministers suspended, to be put up at this present parliament, I 
willingly, as if I were present, consent thereto. By me, 
William Negus.' On his hefitating to comply with the 
demands of the bifhop, twenty-eight of his principal pa- 
rifhioners petitioned him in an earneff. appeal, in which they 
say : c We do intreat you, as you render our soules, and as 
you regard that account that you must render unto God for 
them, not to forsake us.' His suspension was recalled, but 
he was again in trouble, and at length deprived, before August, 
1609.* 

c Mr. Barker, parson of Prittlewell, greatly troubled for 
refusing to baptise a child in a private man's house, when there 
was no neceffity, and for omitting the surplice.' Edmund 
Barker, inftituted 13th July, 1569, on the presentation of 
Robert Lord Rich. He was also one of the witnesses in the 
case of Wright, f 

* Newc. ii. 384; Cooper, Ath. Cant. f P. 71, 78. 

ii. 5295 Brooks' Lives i. 296. Part of a 
Regifter MSS. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. IIJ 

c Mr. Gifford, of Maulden, suspended for not subscribing, 
and in the end by the High Commission deprived ; and being 
reftored again to preach, was, at the last visitation, suspended.' 
George Gyfford was of Hart Hall, Oxford. He was insti- 
tuted to the vicarage of All Saints', with St. Peter's, Maldon, 
30th Auguft, 1582, on the presentation of Richard Franck. 
Strype says : — c This man was a great and diligent preacher, 
and much efteemed by many, and of good rank in the town, 
and had brought that place to some sobriety and knowledge of 
true religion ; J and again, ' he was valued much .... for 
the good reformation he had made in that market-town by his 
preaching, where very notorious sins reigned before his 
coming, and others had been, by his diligence, nourifhed and 
strengthened in grace and virtue, as the inhabitants in a 
petition to the bifhop on his behalf had set forth at large; 
and that in his life he was modeft, discreet, and unreproveable ; 
that he never used conventicles, but ever preached and cate- 
chised in the church.' Burleigh, the Lord Treasurer, inter- 
ceded with Whitgift for him, after his suspension, but received 
for answer : c It appeareth that Giffbrd is a ringleader of the 
rest, againft whom also I have received certain complaints, 
to the answering whereof we mean to call him, by virtue 
of the High Commission. In the meantime I think it not 
convenient to re-grant him any further liberty or release of his 
suspension until he have purged himself.' This was in May, 
1584 It should appear that after his second suspenfion he 
was restored to the office of lecturer, which he had been 
allowed to fill after his deprival as vicar. In 1597 we find 
him one of a Presbytery which was eftablifhed in Essex. 
GifFord lived to a good old age, and died in 1620. His 
works are (1) Country Divinity. London, 158 1, 8vo. (2) 
Dialogue between a Papift and a Protestant. London, 1583, 
8vo. (3) Againft the Priesthood and Sacrifice of the Church 
of Rome. London, 1584, 8vo. (4) Catechism. London, 
1586, 8vo. (5) Discourse on the Subtile Practices of Devils 
by Witches and Sorcerers. London, 1587, 8vo. (6) Short 
Treatise againft the Donatists of England. London, 1590, 



n8 Appendix to Chap. IV. 

4to. (8) Plain Declaration that our Brownifts be full 
Donatifts. London, 1591, 4to. (9) Reply to Mr. John 
Greenwood and Henry Barrow, touching Read Prayer. (10) 
Dialogue concerning Witches and Witchcraft. London, 
1593 and 1603, 4to. (11) Treatise of True Fortitude. 
London, 1594, 8vo. (12) Comment on the whole Book of 
the Revelations. London, 1596, 4to. (13) Exposition on 
the Canticles. London, 16 12, 8vo. (14 — 19) Single Ser- 
mons. London, 158 1-4-6-9-9 1. (20) Two Sermons, 1598, 
8vo. (21) Four Sermons. London, 1598, 8vo. (22) 
Fifteen Sermons on the Song of Solomon. London, 16 10, 
8vo. (23) He also translated into Englifh, Prelections upon 
the Sacred and Holy Revelations, written in Latin by Dr. 
William Falke. London, 1573, 8vo."* 

' Mr. Tunstall, vicar of Much Totham, much molefted in 
their courts, and hath been suspended ever since the 24th of 
July laft, for not yielding to wear the surplice, and make 
the crosse in baptisme, and now hath his benefice sequeftered 
and a day set apart for his deprivation.' William Tunftall, 
inftituted to the vicarage of Great Totham, 15th February, 
1583, on the presentation of Nicholas Clerk. He was de- 
prived before August, 1587. f 

' Mr. Carew, minifter of Hatfield Peverill, much molefted 
and suspended for not yielding to weare the surplice, imprisoned 
also sundry times, and in the end forced to depart the diocese.' 
Thomas Carew was descended from an 'ancient and genteel 
family of his name, living in Devonshire and Cornwall,' and 
had been educated either in Broadgate's Hall, or Exeter 
College, Oxford. Having received ordination from the 
Bifhop of Winchefter, and been licensed by Archbifhop 
Grindal and Bifhop Aylmer, had settled down at Hatfield 
Peveril, probably as lecturer. There was a Presbytery set up 
at Hatfield, and Carew became a leading man in it. In a 

* Newc. ii. 398; Strype, Aylmer bury Memorials i. c. 3; Bancroft's 

71, 735 Whitgift i. 30, i. ii. 1905 'Dangerous Pofitions' 84, pp. 78, 84, 

Annals iii. ii. 479 ; Brooks' Lives ii. 273 109. 
— 278 j Wood, Ath. Ox. i. 456 ; Han- -j- Newc. ii. 619; see p. 84. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 119 

few weeks after his settlement there, he informed the bifhop, 
by letter, that within the compass of ' sixteen miles ' there 
were sixteen non-resident minifters, and thirty who were 
insufficient and scandalous, while there were nineteen silenced 
for refusing subscription.' He was immediately summoned 
before the High Commission, charged with having been chosen 
by the people, defaming the Book of Common Prayer, denying 
that Chrift descended into the regions of the damned, and 
with keeping persons from the Communion when c there was 
more need to allure them to do it.' It was further alleged againft 
him, among other things, that he held that the Queen had 
no power to make ecclesiaftical laws, and had brought his 
people c to that point that they said even at baptism that it 
made no matter for the water so we have the word.' When 
he came before the Commission, he was put to his oath on 
these charges, and when he refused to be sworn he was com- 
mitted to the Fleet. As his committal was dated November 
16, 1585, he muft have signed the supplication to the Council 
in the interval between his suspenfion and his commitment to 
prison. Carew was not released from cuftody for some time.* 

c Mr. Hawkdon, minifter of Fryan, indicted at the assizes 
for omitting the crosse in baptisme, and not suffered to enter 
his benefice ; being presented by the patron for that he would 
not subscribe, and now standeth suspended for not yielding to 
wear the surplice, and to make the crosse in baptisme. 'f 

c Mr. Ward, preacher at Writtle, now standeth suspended 
by the bifhop, for not yielding to weare the surplice.' John 
Ward was of Chrift's College, Cambridge. He firft settled at 
Haverhill. He was also minifter at Bury. At what date he 
went to Writtle I have not been able to ascertain. After 



* Strype, Aylmer 78, 80. There is Sermons, 8vo., 1603. (2) Four Sermons, 

a long account of Carew in the MSS. 8vo., 1604. In another part of the 

Regifter, p. 651 — 659, from which it is Regifter there is this note of Carew * much 

evident that his case is even more misrepre- molefted, imprisoned once or twice, sus- 

sented by Strype than that of Huckle. pended, removed from his living, and a 

Wood, Ath. Ox. i. 33 \ Brooks' Lives ii. bad man put in.' P. 584. 
166—168. Carew published (1) Five f P. 78, 84. 



120 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 






his suspension he returned to Haverhill, where he died. The 
date of his death does not appear. In the chancel of the 
church at Haverhill there is a tablet to his memory, with the 
following inscription : — 

Johannes Warde 
Quo si quis scivit scitius 
Aut si quis docuit doctius 
Aut rarus vixit sandtius 
At nullus tonnuit fortius. 
Son of thunder, Son of ye dove, 
Full of hot zeal, full of true love, 
In preaching truth, in living right, 
A burning lamp, a shining light. 
Light here. Stars hereafter. 

John Ward, after he, with great evidence and power 
of ye Spirite, and with much fruit, preached ye 
gospell at Haverhill and Bury, Surf. 34 
yeares, was here gathered to his fathers. 
Watch. Susan, his widdowe, married Rogers, that worthy parlor Warde. 

of Weathersfield. He left three sonnes, 
Samuel, Nathaniel, John, preachers, who for 
them and theirs wiih no greater blefling 
than that they may continue in beleeving 
and preaching the same gospel till ye coming 
of Chrift. Come ! Lord Jesus ! Come quicklye. 
Watch. Death is our entrance into life. Warde. 

Fuller thus translates the four Latin lines : 

Grant, some of knowledge, greater store, 
More learned some in teaching, 
Yet few in life did lighten more, 
None thundered more in preaching. * 

c Mr. Larkin, late parson of Little Waltham, was suspended 
for not subscribing, and indicted for not making the crosse in 
baptisme.' Thomas Lorkin, inftituted 4th June, 1572, on the 
presentation of James Cancellare. He voided the rectory 
before 14th May, 1585. f 






* S. Ward's Works, ed. 1862, p. 
Brooks' Lives i. 305 ; Ath. Cant, 
no. 



•f- Newc. ii. 614. 



Appendix to Chap. IV. 121 

c Mr. Redrith, parson of Hutton, was indicted for not 
wearing the surplice, and hath now, since the bifhop's 
visitation, a day set apart for his deprivation, for not yielding 
to wear the surplice.' Thomas Redrich, inftituted nth 
January, 1575. He refigned before August, 1588. "* 

' Mr. Camillus Rufticus, pastor of Fange, suspended eight 
weeks or thereabouts, for not subscribing; and being reftored, 
hath been of late suspended again for the same cause.' 
Camillus Rustren (sic), inftituted to the rectory of Vang, on 
the presentation of William Wiseman, of Canefield Hall. 
He was deprived before April, 1609. + 

c Mr. Seredge, parson of Eaft Hanningfield, was suspended 
for not subscribing, and thrice indicted at the assizes, because 
he did not wear the surplice once every month and every com- 
munion, and for omitting the sign of the cross in baptisme ; 
and now he standeth suspended for the same.' William Seredge, 
inftituted 7th August, 1566, on the presentation of Kenelme 
Throckmorton, of Garnets, High Eafter. Seredge died before 
25th August, 1600. % 

c Mr. Chaplen, minister of Hempsted, suspended at the 
bifhop's last visitation, for preaching in his cure without a 
licence.' 

c Mr. Pigot, minister of Tiltie, suspended at the bifhop's 
last visitation, for not yielding to weare the surplice.' || 

' Mr. Howell, parson of Paglesham, suspended for not 
wearing the surplice, and making the cross in baptisme.' 
Thomas Howell, instituted 12th April, 1578, on the pre- 
sentation of the Queen. He voided the rectory before 
February, 1599, but whether by death, ceflion, or deprivation, 
does not appear. § 

c Mr. Maiburne, pastor of Much Wakering, greatly molested 
for his sermons and matters of the Booke.' John Maiborne, 
instituted 15th April, 1577, on the presentation of Aylmer. 
He died before June, 1587. 11 

* Newc. ii. 344, p. 78. || P. 78. 

f Newc. ii. 613} Mor. ii. p. 78. § Newc. ii. 459, p. 78, 100. 

X Newc. ii. 307 ; Mor. ii. 457, p. 78. f\ Newc. ii. 620. 



122 Appendix to Chap. IV. 

c Mr. Knight, late minister of Hempstead, suspended by 
Dr. Bingham, the official, for preaching in his own cure 
without a licence ; and being released, was the second time 
suspended by him, for that he refused absolutely to subscribe, 
and was forced to leave the diocese.' 

c Mr. Chadwick, late minifter at Danburie, suspended by 
the High Commiffion, and so departed the diocese.' Possibly 
Charles Chadwick, fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. 
This Chadwick was censured by the heads of the Univerfity 
in 1587, for a sermon which he preached ' reflecting upon the 
non-refidence of some of the University.' It was charged 
against him that c he did reprehend the usual and laudable 
prayers in the church for all states in Christ's church militant,' 
calling it a ' monk prayer.' * 

' Mr. Morley, procured to be preacher at Ridgwell, was 
sent for by letter and imprisoned about seven weeks, and was 
bound in ^100 not to preach in London diocese, for that he 
refused to subscribe.' Ezechias Morley was first minister at 
Walsham-in-the-Willows, Suffolk. In the MSS. Second part 
of a Regifter there is a circumstantial account, under his own 
hand, of his sufferings there. The bifhop of the diocese was 
Edmund Freake. i For three years,' he says, ' I was so 
molefted by the Commissary that I could not remain for any 
long time in any one place. They firft arrefted me by a 

warrant This was in 1582. Having obtained my 

liberty, I became minifter of Denton ; then the Commiffary 
caused an acl: of excommunication to be entered againft me. 
. . . . Afterwards I was arrefted on the Lord's day, in the 
church-yard, when the Lord's Supper was about to be ad- 
ministered .... I was bound over to the affizes. At the 
assizes I was indicted for having deviated from the order of 
baptism, in baptising a child, long before I left Walsham. . . . 
I was committed to prison.' It should appear that it was 
shortly after this that Morley came to Ridgwell; but he was 
almoft immediately apprehended at the inftance of Whitgift 

* Strype, Annals iii. i. 722. 



Appendix to Chap. IF. 123 

and Aylmer, and committed to the Clink, where he lay for 
seven weeks. On his release he returned to Essex, and 
resumed his miniftry, notwithstanding the inhibition of the 
authorities. On the 16th of May, 1584, a monition, signed 
by Whitgift, Aylmer, Gabriel Goodman, and another, was 
addressed to Isaac Morley ; Parmenter, of the parifh of Bel- 
champ St. Paul's ; and Robert Pammit and William Bigg, 
of Ridgwell ; commanding their appearance before the High 
Commission, to answer among other charges these, ' that 
they had been at divers the preachings and lectures ' of Ezechias 
Morley, in the church at Ridgwell, and c that they had been 
often, or sometimes, within the laft two years, at the said 
minifter's lectures, preachings, and expositions, in some house, 
or other place out of the church, or public place, appointed for 
prayers.' Morley himself was also summoned before the 
Court at the same time. We afterwards lose sight of him 
until the year 1601, when we find him instituted to the rectory 
of High Roding, July 23, on the presentation of the Queen. 
Morley died before February, 160 7.* 

There were also six others suspended by Aylmer in this county. 
1. William Taye, pastor of Peldon. He is mentioned by Ban- 
croft as one of a classis in this county about Colchester, together 
with 'Master Dowe, Master Farar and Master Newman.' f 

2. Edmund Chapman. He was lecturer at Dedham. Chap- 
man was educated at Cambridge, where he became Fellow of 
Trinity. He commenced M. A. in 1562. He was installed 
Canon of Norwich in 1569. He was an active member of the 
Puritan party at Cambridge, and was one of a number who 
appealed to Lord Burleigh in behalf of Thomas Cartwright, in 
1570. About the same time he is also said to have ' defended ' 
in a divinity disputation, that c Christ did not descend into hell 
after his death,' and to have maintained ' duo habere sacer- 

* MSS. Register. Brooks' Lives ii. f Dangerous Positions, 84. There is 

174 — 176. The Commissary was John no mention of this Tey in Newcourt. He 

Daye. Strype, Annals iii. i. 2.5,27; ii. mentions another Rector of the same 

173, 176. Gabriel Goodman, Ath. Cant. name who was instituted in May, 1596 ; 

ii. 317. ii. 467. 



124 Appendix to Chap. IV. 

dotia nefas esset.' In September he, with other prebendaries 
of Norwich, ' entered into the choir of the church and broke 
down the organ with other outrages.' In 1572 he was preacher 
at the town of Bedford. He was suspended there by the Bifhop 
of Lincoln for his 'objectionable sermons.' In 1576 he was 
deprived of his canonry at Norwich, for ' nonconformity. ' It 
was the next year after this that he appears to have settled at 
Dedham. After his suspension at Dedham, Aylmer sought to 
have him sent into the north of England, but he seems to have 
been allowed to remain among his people, and was shortly 
restored. He married a sister of William Cardinal, of Great 
Bromley, who, by his will, dated January, 1595-6, left him 
certain lands in the parish of Bromley for life, if he should so 
long continue preacher at Dedham. Chapman died in No- 
vember, 1602, and was buried at Dedham. In the chancel of 
the church there is a monument to his memory with this 
inscription : — 

Extra sub alto cespitis nido jacet 
Edmundus ille Chapman ; in verbo Dei 
Doctor : super quo si velis multum brevi, 
Plus nemo dixit aut Dei, aut vixit Deo. 
Sed cum soleret intus os adeo loqui 
Cur ponerentur ossa coemeterio ? 
Enhumilem in herba spem resurgendi facit 
Ceu pastor agnos inter obdormuit suos. 

Obiit. 7 mo. Novem. 

Anno Domini 1602. 

Anno Aetatis suoe 64. 

On a ledger outside is the inscription : c Here lieth the body of 
Edmund Chapman, Doctoure of Divinitie, and some time 
preacher of this towne, who died November 7, 1602. Aged 64.'* 
3. Ezekiel Culverwell. He was of Emmanuel College, Cam- 
bridge. When he was suspended he was miniiter at Felfted. 
There is the following entry in the regifter of that parifh. 
c Ezekiel Culverwell, son of Ezekiel Culverwell, baptized 31st 

* Strype, Parker ii. 36, 39; Whitgift i. 3825 Cardinal ib. ii. 321, p. 56; 
iii. 145 Annals i. ii. 373, 376, 485 ; ii. Taylor, Church in Dedham, 20. 
ii. 417 j Aylmer 395 Cooper, Ath. Cant. 



Appendix to Chap. IF. 125 

of March, 1591.' The signature at the foot of that page of the 
regifter, is 'John Freeman, vicar.' One of his sifters was mar- 
ried to William Whitaker, another to the father of William 
Gouge, and a third to Arthur Dent. Culverwell became Rector 
of Great Stambridge, but at what date does not appear. He 
was deprived there before March, 1609. He is noticed, by 
Fuller, among the learned writers of Emmanuel College. He 
was the author of a c Treatise of Faith,' 1633 ; c A Ready Way 
to Remember the Scriptures,' 1637, and c Time well spent in 
Sacred Meditations, Divine Observations, Heavenly Expor- 
tations.' His nephew, Dr. Gouge, says of him, in a dedicatory 
epiftle, prefixed to the c Treatise of Faith,' c God sent Ezekiel 
Culverwell, as of old he sent Ezekiel Buzi, to set forth the 
promises of God more plentifully and pertinently than ever 
before ; and that to breed faith where it is not, to strengthen 
it where it is weak, to settle it where it wavereth, to repair it 
where it decayeth, to apply it aright to every need, to extend it 
to sanctification as well as to justification, and to point out the 
singular use of it in matters temporal, spiritual, and eternal 
.... What I say of him, I know of him, and under his 
miniftry I was trained, he being at leaft two and twenty years 
older than myself.' * 

4. William Wingfield, incumbent of Wicks. He seems 
to have been restored again, as his name appears in Newcourt, 
under date 1598. f 

5. John Gardiner. He was of Corpus Chrifti College, 
Cambridge. He was minifter at Heybridge. In 1586 he was 
cast into Newgate by Aylmer, whom he petitioned on the 17th 
of September in that year, as follows : l My duty in humble 
wise remembered ; my Lord, I am cast into prison by you, for 
a matter which about seven years past was slanderously raised 
against me. I was, by course of law, cleared, and the Lord 
God, which searcheth the heart, before whom both you and I 

* Brooks' Lives iii. 512 ; Newc. ii. at Felsted, I am indebted to my friend, 

542 j Ath. Cant. ii. 197, see p. 182. the Rev. H. Gammidge, of Dunmow. 
Sibbes' Works, Grosart's Ed. vol. i. lxxxi. f ii. 6575 Brooks' Lives i. 49, note. 

— xc. For the extract from the register 



126 Appendix to Chap. IF. 

shall shortly appeare to be judged, doth know, and Him I call 
to witness that I was, and am, falsely accused. I have been 
extremely sick in prison. I thank God I am amended, but yet 
so that the phyficians take it my infection in the prison would 
be very dangerous. I have a poore wife and five children, who 
are in a lamentable case. I had six children at the beginning 
of my imprisonment, but by reason of my sickness in prison, 
my wife being constrained to attend upon me, and for want of 
some to oversee them, one of them was drowned in a tub of 
worte, being two yeares and a half of age. If your Lordfhip 
have no compailiion towards me, yet take pity upon the widow 
and the fatherleffe, for in that state are now my wife and poore 
infants, whose teares are before the Lord. I crave no more but 
this, to be bayled, and if found guilty in any breach of law, let 
me have extremity without any favor. Your Lordfhip's to 
command in Christ.' What afterwards became of Gardiner 
does not appear. * 

6. Mark Wyersdale. He was vicar of All Saints, Maldon, 
to which he was instituted June 18, 1584, on the presentation 
of Richard Franck. After his suspenfion he refided for a time 
at Cambridge. He refigned the vicarage in 1586, in favor of 
George Gifford, who also had the presentation of the patron, 
but Aylmer refused to institute him. f 



* Brooks' Lives i. 3165 Cooper, Ath f MSS. Second part of a Register, 

Cant. ii. 10 j Second part of a Register 5845 Newc. ii. 398, p. 78. 
MSS. 752, p. 93. 



CHAPTER V. 

1603 — 1629. 

THE acceilion of James was by many hailed with sanguine 
hope. In 159 1 he had been appealed to by certain of the 
suffering Nonconformists, and had written to Elizabeth on the 
apprehenfion of Kidd and Cartwright : c We cannot .... 
but by our most affectuous and earnest letter interpose us at your 
hands to stay any harder usage . . . requesting you most earn- 
estly, that for our cause and interceffion it may please you to 
have them relieved.' And in that letter he had also likewise 
expreffed himself in terms of favor to the Puritans. The year 
before that he had gone further still. In a general afTembly held 
at Edinburgh, he had publicly said that : c As for our neighbour 
kirk, England, their service is an evil said mass in English ; 
they want nothing of the mass but the liftings. I charge you 
my good people .... to stand to your purity .... and I, 
forsooth, so long as I brook my life and crown, shall maintain 
the same.' And even after he had been proclaimed King of 
England, in his harangue in the kirk in Edinburgh, he thanked 
God c that he had settled, both kirk and kingdom, and left them 
in that state which he intended not to hurt or alter any ways.' * 
Moved by the impressions which James had thus encouraged, 
the Puritans prepared what was afterwards known as the 
c Millenary Petition.' This was signed by seven hundred 
and fifty ministers, and presented to the King in the month 
of April. In this petition they afk : c That .... the cross 
in baptism, interrogatories ministered to infants, and con- 
firmations may be taken away ; . . . . the cap and surplice 

* Pierce, Vindication of the Dissenters, 165. Pierce quotes from Caldcrwood, 
Hist. pp. 186, 473. 



128 Millenary Petition. 

not urged ; examination may go before the communion ; 
.... divers terms of priests, and absolution, and some 
other used .... may be corrected ; the longsomeness of 
service abridged ; . . . . the Lord's day be not profaned, 
and the rest upon holidays not so strictly urged; that there 
may be a uniformity of doctrine prescribed; .... no ministers 
to teach their people to bow at the name of Jesus; and that the 
canonical Scriptures only be read.' The petition also complains 
of c the want of sufficient preachers, of non-re fidence, of the 
subscription annually required to articles, of commendams, 
pluralities and improprieties, of excommunications, and of the 
power and practices of ecclesiastical courts;'* and concludes 
with the prayer that God, for ' Christ's sake,' would dispose his 
regal heart to do herein what shall be for His glory. 

At first the King appeared to favor these requests, and he 
arranged a conference upon the subjects in dispute. But in a 
proclamation which he issued on the 24th of October, he so 
expressed himself, that the Puritans too plainly saw there was 
little hope for them. He says : c As we have reason to think 
the state of the church here established . . . . to be 
agreeable to the Word of God .... so we are not ignorant 
that time may have brought in some corruptions .... which 

if we shall find to be so, we will therein proceed But,' 

he adds, ' if any shall either by gathering the subscription of 
multitudes to supplications, .... by open invectives, .... 
in the pulpit or otherwise, .... give us cause to think that 
he hath a more unquiet spirit than beseemeth a private person, 
... we will make it appear how far such a manner of proceed- 
ing is displeasing to us ; . . . our purpose and resolution ever 
was, and now is, to preserve the eftate as well ecclesiastic 
as politic, in such form as we have found it here .... 
Wherefore, we admonish all men hereby to take warning, as 
they will answer the contrary at their peril.' f Well might 
Whitgift, writing to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, on the 12th 

* Cardwell, Conferences, 130, 1385 f Cardwell, Doc. Ann. ii. 64 — 675 

Strype, Whitgift ii. 478. Conferences, 148, 150. 



"James's Proclamation. 129 

of December, say : ' Although our humorous and contentious 
brethren have made many petitions and motions correspondent 
to their natures, yet your lordship may perceive .... that 
they have not much prevailed.' * 

The promised conference was held in the month of January 
following at Hampton Court. All the members were nomi- 
nated by the King. ' For the church, there were nine bifhops 
and about as many dignitaries.' Among the former were Dove, 
Bifhop of Peterborough, and Overall, Dean of St. Paul's ; f the 
Puritans were only four minifters. J The conference separated 
much as it met. James, writing to some person unknown, in 
Scotland, says : c We have kept such a revell with the Puritans 
here these two days as was never heard the like ; quhaire, I 
have peppered thaime as soundly as ye have the Papists thaire. 
It were no reason that those that will refuse the airy sign of the 
cross after baptism should have their purses stuffed with any 
more solid and substantial crosses ' || 

On the 5th of March, the King issued a proclamation, which 
announced the result of the conference, to the kingdom 
generally. He thus speaks of it : c We found mighty and 
vehement informations, supported with so weak and slender 
proofs .... that there is no cause why any change should 

have been at all in ... . the Book of Common Prayer 

Notwithstanding, we thought meet .... that some things 
might rather be explained than changed .... which being 
done .... we have thought it necessary .... to require all 

.... to conform themselves unto it Wherefore, we 

require all archbifhops, bishops, and other public minifters 
.... to do their duties .... in punishing the offenders. 
.... And we do admonifh all men, that hereafter they shall 
not expect or attempt any further alteration. . . . ' A full 
account of the alterations made may be seen in Cardwell's 

* Strype, Whitglft ii. 485 ; iii. 391. J Neal i. 395. 

j- Dove, ante p. 90. Overall was vicar || Cardwell, Doc. Ann. ii. 76, 79 ; 

of Epping. N. i. 50 ; ii. 248 5 Strype, Conf. 220. 
Whitgift ii. 303, 305, 313, 437, 504 j 
iii. 343. 



130 Amended Common Prayer. 

Conferences, 217 — 225. They were wholly immaterial; the 
most important being an explanatory clause to the title 
' Confirmation,' which was c a laying on of hands upon those 
that are baptised and came to years of discretion.' * 

Fourteen days after the issue of this proclamation James 
met his first Parliament. In his opening speech, he disposed 
of those who had expected most of him as follows : c The 
Puritans and Novelifts I call a sect rather than a religion, who 
do not differ so far from us in points of religion as in their 
confused form of policy, .... being ever discontented 
with the present government, and impatient to suffer any 
superiority, which maketh their sects insufferable in any well 
governed commonwealth.' f Of course all hope was now 
extinguifhed; but even worse remained. As usual, ' Convo- 
cation ' had been convened at the same time with the Parlia- 
ment. Whitgift had died on the 29th of February. Bancroft, 
who had been appointed as his successor, had not yet been 
consecrated ; he nevertheless presided at the opening, which 
was on the 20th of March. On the 13th of April, the new 
archbishop brought in the King's license to make canons. 
On the 2nd of May he delivered the c prolocutor ' a book of 
canons, c desiring him to a communion of eight or ten to 
consider of them.' On the same day a petition was delivered 
in the Lower House by Stephen Egerton, Edward Fleetwood, 
Anthony Wootton, and Hugh Clarke. These petitioners were 
admonished to be obedient and conform, together with their 
adherents, before St. John Baptist next (June 24). J By the 
end of June the ' canons ' had been adopted, c printed and 
published.' They were a hundred and forty-one in number. 
c Few men of any party,' says the latest hiftorian of the 
Puritans, ' will now be found to justify the hard and rigorous 
spirit which several of these enactments bear. Who that has 
ever sighed over Bishop Hall's sufferings, described in his 'Hard 

* Common Prayer, Ecc. Hist. Soc. iii. Wood, Fasti, i. 125 ; Fleetwood. Brooks 

1479 j Procter, Hist. C. P. 91, 92. ii. 3815 Wootton. Brooks ii. 346 } 

f Pari. Hist. i. 982. Clark. Brooks ii. 412; Strype's Ann. 

£ Egerton. Brooks' Lives ii. 289; iv. 553. 



New Canons. 131 

Measure,' or felt a burst of indignation as he thought upon the 
execution of Laud, will not revert to the Convocation of 1604, 
and think too of the prophetic warning of Bifhop Rudd : 
c Consider,' he said, c who must be the executioners of their 
deprivation ; even we ourselves, the bifhops, againft whom 
there will be a great clamour of them and their defendants, and 
many others well affected to them, whereby our persons shall 
be in hazard to be brought in great dislike, if not into extreme 
hatred ; whereof what inconveniences may ensue, I leave to 
your wisdom to be considered of.' ' * These c canons ' continue 
to be the law of the Church of England to the present day. 

The canons having been ' printed and publifhed,' with a pre- 
fatory 'declaration' from the King, on the 16th of July there 
was iffiied a proclamation enjoining c conformity to the form of 
service of God establifhed.' In this document James adver- 
tises c his subjects ' that what intractable men do not perform 
upon admonition they must be compelled to by authority.' 
The King further says : 'We have thought good to give time to 
all ministers .... until the last of November now next en- 
suing, to bethink themselves of the course they will hold 
therein.' f It was a note of warning, and the King was terribly 
in earnest. On the very first day of November, Bancroft iffued 
letters to each of the bifhops of his province, charging them to 
take action promptly and with all vigor. He reminds them 
that the time will ' now have expired,' and that there ' are two 
sorts of ministers with whom they have to deal.' Those that 
were not already ' placed ' were to be dealt with under 36th and 
37th canons, which required the subscription that had already 
occafioned so much conflict under Whitgift; adding the demand, 
that the subscription for the avoiding of all ambiguities shall be 
in this order and form of words: C I, N. N., do willingly and ex 
animo subscribe to these three articles above mentioned, and to 
all things that are contained in them.' And those which were 
c placed ' already, and were Nonconformists, were to be dealt with 
under the 122nd canon, which provides for the 'contumacious,' 

* Marsderfs Hist. Early Puritans, pp. f Cardwell, Doc. Ann. ii. 80 — 84. 

281, 284, ed. i860. 

K 2 



132 Subscription. 

first, suspenfion, and then, c his contumacy continuing/ excom- 
munication — excommunication then carrying with it, as it 
long continued to do, liability to imprisonment in a common 
gaol, at the pleasure of the bifhops. * The last of November, 
1604, at length arrived ; and, on the next day following, 
persecution recommenced. 

In the month of February an incident occurred which shed 
still further light upon the reckless spirit of the King. A 
petition had been presented to him in behalf of certain 
Nonconforming in the county of Northampton. 'Whereat 
His Majefty took such deep impression as, the next day being 
Sunday, he sat eight hours in council with the Lords. In this 
meeting he most bitterly inveighed against the Puritans, saying: 
' That the revolt in the Low Countries, which had lafted ever 
since he was born, and whereof he never expected to see an 
end, began first by a petition for matters of religion. That 
he and his mother, from their cradles, had been haunted with a 
Puritan devil, which he feared would not leave him to his 
grave. That he would hazard his crown but he would 
suppress their malicious spirits . . . .' f 

Several deprivals now took place in Essex, and among the 
sufferers were William Negus, Ezekiel Culverwell, now of 
Great Stambridge, and Camillus Rufticus, all of whom had 
been suspended before by Aylmer. By the end of the second 
year after James's accession not fewer than 300 minifters were 
either silenced or deprived, or forced to leave their country. J 
Again petitions flowed in, complaining that ' worthye lights 
are in part extinguifhed, and we heavily threatened to be 
deprived of the remnant that are left,' and entreating the 
King 'out of the bowels of his compassion .... to send 
out his royal authorities || But all in vain. The purpose of 

# Wilkins' Conciliae, vol. iv. ; Barns, + Newc. ii. 384, 542, 613 j Negus, 

Ecc. Law. Art. Excommunication. p. 115; Culverwell, 114; Rusticus, 121. 

f Letter to Jegon, Bifhop of Norwich; || Petition from the neighbourhood of 

Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, 197. Jegon was Roiston. Harl. MSS. B. M. 677, p. 44. 
a native of Coggeshall. Wood, Ath. Ox. 
i. 701 ; Dale, Annals of Coggeshall, 150. 



Colchester, The Leggatts. 133 

the Monarch was immovable. About this time Richard 
Rogers, of Wethersfield, was also frequently molefted, and 
at length he was suspended by Ravis, Bancroft's successor in 
the see of London; and shortly afterwards William Ames, 
lecturer at Colchefter, was molefted. Ames was ultimately 
compelled to flee the country. He went over to Holland ; but ' 
even there Bancroft would have followed him had he been 
able. He was protected however, attained to great honour, 
and after many years of holy usefulness, first as paftor of the 
English church at the Hague, and afterwards as Professor of 
Divinity in the University of Franeker, he died at Rotterdam 
at the age of fifty-seven. * 

Ravis died in 1609, and Bancroft in the November follow- 
ing. Bancroft was succeeded by George Abbott. In 161 1 
our present c authorized version ' of the Holy Scriptures 
appeared. Among those that were employed in its preparation 
were John Overall; Edward Lively, who was rector of Pur- 
leigh, 1605 — 1606; Roger, the brother of Lancelot Andrews; 
John Spencer; and Roger Fenton. The true hiftory of this 
undertaking is given for the first time by the late Mr. 
Anderson, f 

In this year also the old law under which Elizabeth had 
committed more than one to the flames was again put into 
execution. J The unhappy victim was a native of Essex, by 
name Bartholomew Leggatt. It was said that he denied the 
divinity of Christ, and a plurality of persons in the Godhead. 
Having continued a long time prisoner in Newgate, he was at 
length brought before the King, many of the Bilhops, and 
many learned Divines, in the consistory of St. Paul's, where 
he was declared a contumacious and obdurate heretic, and 

* Brooks' Lives ii. 405; Biographia leigh, 1589 — 1592, but Newcourt ex- 
Brit, ed. Kippis. sub. nom. presses a doubt here also, i. 150; ii. 23. 

f Annals of English Bible ii. 364 — Fenton, vicar of Chigwell, 1606 — 161 5. 
368 ; Overall, ante p. 129 ; Lively, Ath. Newc. i. 197 ; ii. 143. 
Cant. ii. 407, 554; Newc. ii. 476. % J onn Wielmaker and Henry Tor- 
Andrews, probably vicar of Chigwell, wort were burnt at Smithfield July 22nd, 
1606, but Newcourt is not certain, ii. 1574- 
143. Spencer, possibly the vicar of Ard- 



134 Dover court, Book of Sports. 

delivered over to the secular power. He was burnt at Smith- 
field on the 1 8th of March. Bartholomew had a brother 
named Thomas, who was also accused of holding heretical 
opinions. Thomas died in Newgate. * 

The Prelatists were now in triumph, and many of them 
seldom scrupled to add insult to oppression. About the year 
1 6 19 Thomas Drax, then vicar of Dovercourt, publifhed a 
little volume addressed to the Nonconformists, entitled c Ten 
Counter-demands.' The last of these demands was, 'Whether 
it were not the Separatist's best course to return again ; or if 
they will not take this course, whether it were not good for 
them .... to remove to Virginia, and make a plantation 
there in the hope to convert the Infidels.' f What Drax 
intended only as an idle taunt, hundreds were already medi- 
tating in sober seriousness. Three years afterwards the way 
was opened by the Speedwell and the Mayflower. The May- 
flower reached Cape Cod in the month of November, 1620. % 

In 16 17, James was on his way home from Scotland. As he 
passed through Lancashire he 'rebuked some Puritans and pre- 
cise people ' for 'prohibiting and punifhing the good people for 
using their lawfull recreations upon Sundays, and other holy 
dayes, after the afternoon sermon or service.' After his return 
to London, he issued a ' declaration,' in which he announced 
his ' pleasure that, after the end of Divine Service, our good 
people be not disturbed from any lawfull recreation, such as 
dancing, either men or women, archery for men, leaping, 
vaulting, or any other such harmlesse recreation, nor from 
having of May games, Whitson ales, and Morris dances, and 
the setting up of May-poles, and other sports therewith used ;' 
and further, 'that this, our declaration, shall be publifhed by 
order from the bifhop of the diocese through all the parish 
churches.' || This was another blow at the Nonconforming, 
under which some, especially of the ministers, sufFerred bitterly. 

* Brooks' Lives i. 66 ; Fuller, Church || Fuller, Ch. Hist. iii. 270, 271. 

Hist. iii. 252 — 255. The King's Declaration to his Subjects 

f Hanbury Memorials i. 350 — 369. concerning lawful sports to be used. 

J Flanbury Memorials i. 389 — 403. Laud. Rob. Barker, 1633. 



West Tilbury. 135 

James now betrayed other tendencies, which also proved a 
fruitful source of disquietude to the Puritans. In August, 
1619, the Emperor of Germany, who was also King of 
Bohemia, died, and the Bohemians elected Frederic, the 
Elector Palatine, who had married James's daughter, as his 
successor. The Puritans appealed to Abbott to support their 
choice. But the King avowed his dislike of the archbishop's 
advice, especially because he was then in treaty with the Court 
of Spain about the marriage of his son. Suspicion soon arose 
that the King v/as inclining to the Papacy, which was confirmed 
by his speech at the opening of the Parliament of 1620, and 
still more so by what transpired afterwards."* 

Laud now appears upon the scene. From 1609 to 16 16, he 
had been Rector of Weft Tilbury, in this county. The year 
before he resigned Tilbury he had been made Archdeacon of 
Huntingdon; in December, 1616, Dean of Gloucester; and, 
on the 18th of November, 1621, he was consecrated Bifhop 
of St. David's. t In Auguft, 1622, James issued certain 
c Directions .... concerning preachers and preaching,' the 
effect of which was, on the one hand, greatly to reftrict the 
pulpit exercises of the miniftry, and on the other, greatly to 
restrict the people in their choice of 'lecturers. 'J The breach 
thus widened, conftantly grew wider, until the death of James, 
which took place, it is said, not without suspicion of poison, 
on the 27th of March, 1625. 

The throne to which Charles now succeeded was surrounded 
on every hand with difficulties of the gravest character — diffi- 
culties that were aggrevated not a little by the circumstance 
that, by the rash proceedings of his father, the cause of 
Nonconformity had long since come to be identified with that 
of constitutional freedom. Unhappily that very fact but 
rendered him the more resolved to spare no pains for the 
extinction of the Puritans. Within a few days after his pro- 
clamation, the Duke of Buckingham delivered him a schedule, 
which had been prepared at his request by Laud, ' wherein the 

* Neal i. 479. J Card well, Doc. Ann. ii. 198 — 206. 

■f Newc. i. 30. 



136 Accession of Charles. Opening of Parliament. 

names of all ecclesiastical persons were written under the 
letters O and P ; O standing for orthodox, and P for 
Puritan,' in order that the names of eminent persons should be 
presented unto c him under that partition.'* 

The treaty for Charles's marriage with Henrietta Maria, 
youngest daughter of Henry IV., King of France, had already 
been concluded. It had been signed by James on the nth of 
May, 1624, and by the French King the 14th of August 
following. The marriage itself was now solemnized by proxy 
at Paris, on the nth of May, and on the 12th of June, Henrietta 
landed at Dover, where Charles met her, and conducted her to 
Canterbury. On the 16th of that month they came to London, 
where a chapel had been provided for the Queen and her 
household at Somerset House, with conveniences thereto 
adjoining for Capuchin Friars.' f Two days after his return 
from Dover, Charles met his first Parliament. In his opening 
speech he endeavoured to disarm suspicion by protesting : ' I 
assure you that I may say, with St. Paul, that I have been 
trained up at Gamaliel's feet, and I shall so far show the end of 
it, that all the world may see that none hath been nor ever 
shall be more desirous to maintain the religion I profess than I 
shall be/ 

The King's main reason for calling this Parliament was to 
provide means for carrying on the war to which the Crown was 
now committed in the cause of the Palatinate. The Com- 
mons, however, had grievances to complain of. Of these the 
most pressing related to religion, and the connivance of the 
Court at Popery. On this subject the Senate addressed 
the King in a petition, which suggested the remedies that, in 
the judgment of both Houses, ought to be applied ; and on the 
day that this petition was delivered to the King at Hampton 
Court, the Commons took in hand to deal with the case of 
Richard Mountague, which had for some time created very 
general disquietude. Mountague was then Rector of Stamford 
Rivers, to which living he had been presented by James in 

* Rufliworth, Hist. Coll. i. 169. f Rufh worth i. 170, 171 ; Fuller in. 

337- 



Richard Mountague. 137 

1613.* In the year 1622, he had published a ' New Gag for 
an Old Goose,' in answer to a popish book, entitled c A Gag 
for the New Gospel.' This book was excepted against, 
among others, by John Yates, of St. Andrew's, Norwich, and 
Samuel Ward, of Ipswich. + The c Gag ' was esteemed of 
sufficient importance to receive the attention of the Parliament 
of 1623, when ' the business was committed to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, and ended in an admonition given to Mountague.' 
Mountague, therefore, writes a second book, entitled ' Appello 
ad Caesarem.' This book, which had been finished and partly 
printed before the death of James, now appeared with a 
dedication to Charles containing the significant words : 
c Domine imperator, defende me gladio et ego te defendam 
calamo.' The Commons conceiving that the appeal was 
1 contrived' to put a ' jealousie between the King and his well 
affected subjects,' and c that the whole frame thereof was an 
encouragement to popery,' appointed a committee to examine 
it. The committee brought up their report on the 7th of July, 
in which they say, ' they held this second book as factious and 
seditious ; that it disgraces lectures and preaching itself, nay, 
even reading of the Bible ; that Mountague had done an injury 
to that House in two points. That when he knew his first 
book was there questioned and referred to the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, he prints a new book worse than the former : and 
whereas a petition had been preferred to this House by one 
Yates and Ward, he says, they are Puritans although they have 
subscribed the Articles ; and to revile them for this is a 
reflection upon the House.' Mountague was therefore com- 
mitted to cuftody. Charles no sooner heard of this than he 
sent a message to the Commons, to the effect ' that what they 
had done did not please him, for that he was his servant and 

* Newc. ii. 547 ; Wood, Ath Ox. i. Sermons, ed. Nichol. 1862. The full 

732. title of Mountague's book was 'A Gagg 

f Brooks iii. 577; Brooks ii. 452. for the New Gospell : No, a new Gagg 

This had probably something to do with for an Old Goose, or an Answere to a 

James's letter of August 6th, 1623, to late Abridgement of Controversies and 

* inhibit Ward from preaching.' Ward's Belyar of the Protestants' Doctrine.' 



138 Richard Mountague. 

chaplain in ordinary.' Mountague was accordingly released, 
but not without giving bail to the amount of ^2000, for his 
reappearance when he should be called for by the House.* 

The plague now raging in London, the Parliament adjourned 
to Oxford. In the meanwhile the cause of Mountague was 
warmly taken up, especially by Laud, as the cause of the 
Church of England. It was alleged that some of the opinions 
which had given offence, c were no other than the resolved 
doctrine of the Church,' and c that in the case of any difference 
in the church, the King and the bifhops were to determine the 
matter .... and that if any other judge be ... . allowed, 
we depart from the ordinance of Chrift, and the .... practice 
of the church.' It was also intimated that c if the church be 
once brought down below herself, even majefty itself will soon 
be impeached.' The Commons were not slow to accept the 
gauntlet thus early thrown down by Laud. Accordingly, 
immediately after assembly of the Parliament at Oxford, Sir 
Edmund Coke and others revived the subject. Mountague 
was summoned to the bar a second time, and on his non- 
appearance, he was ordered to be committed for contempt, 
during the pleasure of the House. Three days afterwards both 
Houses were summoned to meet the King at Chriftchurch, 
to receive his answer to their ' Petition ;' but as it had already 
transpired that since their c Petition ' had been delivered, the 
King had, in more than one instance, seriously tampered with 
the very laws for whose enforcement they had asked, his 
answer gave them little satisfaction. The 'business,' for which 
Charles had more especially convened the Parliament, went on 
but slowly therefore, and the King perceiving that the Com- 
mons were more resolved against supply without redress of 
grievances, he dissolved the Parliament on the 12th of Auguft.f 

On the 6th of February following, Charles's second Parlia- 
ment was convened at Weftminfter. The great business again 
urged upon the Commons was the matter of supply, and they 

* Ruftiworth i. 173, 174; Fuller iii. f Pari. Hist. i. II ; Rufhworth, i. 

336 — 338 ; Pari. Hist. ii. 6, 7. 191. 



Richard Mountague. 139 

were charged c to apply themselves to dispatch the business.' 
February, however, passed, and grievances had still the 
precedence. Charles then wrote a letter to the Speaker to 
hasten c supply ;' but still the House persifted in discussing 
' grievances.' On the 13th of April Mountague's case was re- 
vived once more ; and now a third book of his was also called 
in question : c A Treatise of the Invocation of Saints ;' and five 
articles were exhibited againft him, alleging ' divers passages 
.... full of bitterness, railing, and injurious speeches, dis- 
graceful and contemptible to many worthy divines .... 
impious and profane in scoffing at preaching, meditating, and 
conferring, pulpits, lectures, Bible, and all show of religion 
. . . .' all which offences the Commons add, c being to the 
dishonour of God, and of most mischievous effect againft 
the good of this church and commonwealth of England 
.... they do truely pray : That the said Richard Mountague 
may be punished according to his demerits.' To the articles the 
King replied, that ' he would refer the doclxines in them to the 
Convocation House.' By the middle of June, this Parliament 
also had been dissolved, but not before a serious misunder- 
standing had taken place between the King and either House ; 
the House of Commons, by the imprisonment of Sir John 
Eliot and Sir John Dudley Diggs \ and the House of Lords, 
by the imprisonment of the Earl of Arundell, and the refusal of 
a writ of summons to the Earl of BriftoL* 

In the August after the dissolution of Parliament, Laud 
was translated from St. David's to Bath and Wells, and on 
the 3rd of October following, he was made Dean of the 
King's Chapel. Within a few days afterwards he attained 
to yet further honors. In the month of February, Richard 
Sibthorp, vicar of Brackley, in Northamptonshire, had preached 
a sermon at the Lent Assizes of that county, which he printed 
under the title of c Apoftolical Obedience.' In this sermon, 
which was founded on Rom. xiii. 7, Sibthorp advanced the 
moft extreme opinions on the subject of the prerogative which 

* Rufhworth i. 21 1. 



140 Laud's Promotion. 

Charles was now straining beyond all bounds. The King sent 
this sermon to Abbott, Archbifhop of Canterbury, with a 
requeft that he would authorize it. Abbott refused to do so. 
For this and other matters, advantage was taken of an offence 
which the archbifhop had inadvertently committed seven years 
before, and of which he had been formally cleared, to remove 
him from his c office and jurisdiction.' The see was ac- 
cordingly sequeftered to a commission,* and Laud was one 
of the commissioners. 

Towards the commencement of the year 1627, writs were 
issued for the convention of Charles's third Parliament on the 
17th of March. The election for Essex took place on the 
14th. Edward Nuttall, writing from Colchefter to Edward 
Nicholas, secretary to the Duke of Buckingham, thus refers 
to it : c I thought it fit to let you knowe of our choofing 
of the Knights of our Sheere for the county of Essex, which 
be this day chosen. Butt wee have strange things some of 
our juftices hathe done, uppon Saturday lafl, in the sending 
out of your warrants to the chiefe conftables of every division, 
to the ffreehowders, that they should come to Chemsford, and 
give their voyces on that side which mofl of the justices of ye 
peace doe, which is a thing that never was done before. 
Next, I heard this mornyng that diverse rich menne, that 
be freehowders have sould for some twoe dayes, some three 
or fFower dayes, to poore menne that hathe no freehowd lands 
or copihowd at all, 40s. a yeare, some ^5 a yeare, that they 
may come in and take their oaths yf thear shood be oppofition, 
that they are freehowders, and soe soone as this election is 
over, then to returne back again the sayd eftates. This is 
done for the choyce of Sir Francis Barrington and Sir Harbottle 
Grymston.' f 

* Rufhworth i. 434, 457; Cardwell i. 473. Sir Harbottle was seated at 

ii. 217, 221. Bradfield. Mor. i. 464. Sir Francis 

f S. P. O. Dom. Ser. Charles I. Barrington was of Barrington Hall, Hat- 

Grimftone was now confined to the field. He married Joan, the aunt of 

county by the King for default in the Oliver Cromwell. Carlyle, Cromwell i. 

matter of the enforced loan. Rufhworth 37, ed. 1847. He was member for 



Essex Elections. 141 

The members returned for Essex, besides the two thus 
referred to, were Sir Thomas Cheek and Edward Alford, 
for Colchefter ; Sir Henry Mildmay and Sir Arthur Harris, 
for Maldon ; and Sir Nathaniel Rich and Chriftopher Harris, 
for Harwich.* This was also the nrft Parliament to which 
Oliver Cromwell was returned. f The Parliament was opened 
by the King in person, who charged them c that every man 
now must act according to his conscience ; wherefore, if you, 
which God forbid, should not do your duties in contributing 
what the State at this time needs, I mull, in discharge of my 
conscience, use those other means which God hath put into 
my hands, to save that which the follies of some particular 
men may hazard to lose/ J The Commons, however, fell 
at once to the discussion of grievances, as they had done 
before. In May, when both Houses were in earneft con- 
ference on the c Petition of Rights,' Mr. Alford, the member 
for Colchefter, gave utterance to this bold saying : c Let us 
give that to the King which the law gives him and no more.' || 

Essex in 1601, when he diftinguifhed 'White Devil' to Sir Thos. Works, 

himself by signing a petition in favour 1862, iii. xxxviii. Sir H. Mildmay was 

of the Puritan minifters of Essex. He of Wanftead. He was one of the 

was knighted in 1603, and made a Council of State in 1649-50-51. He 

baronet on the inftitution of that order was one of the King's judges. He was 

in 161 1. He was member for Essex tried for high treason in 1661, degraded, 

in all the Parliaments of James, and the his eftates confiscated, and sentence passed 

first three of Charles I. He also refused upon him ' that he should be drawn upon 

to contribute to the loan in 1627, and a sledge, with a halter round his neck, 

was imprisoned for it. Sir Francis died from the Tower of London to the gallows 

July 2nd, 1638. Noble's House of at Tyburn, and from thence back to the 

Cromwell ii. 39. Tower, there to remain for his life.' 

* Sir Thos. Cheek, was of Pyrgo Mor. i. 30 ; Noble ii. 75. Sir Arthur 

Havering. He was grandson of Sir Harris was of Cricksea. His sifter was 

John, p. His second wife was the sifter the wife of Sir H. Mildmay, of Graces, 

of the Earl of Warwick, and one of his He died Jan. 9, 1632. Mor. i. 363. 

daughters married the Earl of Manchefter. Chriftopher Harris was the eldeft son of 

He lived to a great age, and was buried Sir Wm. Harris. He married Elizabeth, 

March 25, 1659, in St. Alban's Church, daughter of Sir Harbottle Grimftone. 

Wood Street, near his grandfather. Strype, Mor. ii. 54 
Life of Sir John Cheek, 1465 Mor. f Carlyle, Cromwell i. 45. 

Eflex i. 61 } Noble, House of Cromwell J Pari. Hift. ii. 213. 

i. 376. Thos. Adams dedicated his || Pari. Hift. ii. 357. 



142 Roger Manwaring. 

While the debates on the ' Petition of Rights ' were in 
progress, Roger Manwaring, Vicar of St. Giles'-in-the-Fields, 
London, and Chaplain in Ordinary to the King, publicly 
advanced opinions which, in the then circumftances of the 
country, the Commons thought deserving of censure. It was 
not the firft time that he had so offended. In the July 
previously, he had preached two sermons before the King at 
Oaklands, which he afterwards repeated to his own parifhioners, 
and then publifhed under the title of 'Religion and Allegiance.' 
He now asserted that c the King is not bound to observe the 
laws of the realm concerning the subjects' right and liberties ; 
but that his royal will and command, in imposing loans and 
taxes without common consent in Parliament, doth oblige 
the subjects' conscience upon pain of eternal damnation ;' 
that ' those who refused to pay the loan offended againfl: 
the law of God . . . . ;' that c the authority of Parliament 
is not necessary for the receiving of aids and subsidies ;' and 
' that the slow proceedings of such great assemblies were 
not fitted for the supply of the State's urgent neceffities, 
but would rather produce sundry impediments to the juft 
designs of princes.' On the 3rd of June, a charge was 
formally laid againfl: him, and the next day the Commons 
sent up a ' declaration ' to the Lords, in which they prayed 
that Manwaring might be ' put to answer all and every the 
premises which they alleged,' and that such proceeding might 
be c thereupon had and executed, as is agreeable to law and 
juftice.' On the 10th of June, the Lords summoned Man- 
waring before them, when he was remanded to the Friday 
following. On the 13th he appeared before the House again, 
and on the next day they ' adjudged him to suffer imprison- 
ment during the pleasure of the Plouse, to pay a fine of £1000 
to the King, to make submiflion in writing at the bar of either 
House, to be suspended for three years from the exercise or 
his ministry, to be disabled from preaching before the court, 
or holding any ecclefiaftical benefice, and finally, that his 
printed sermons should be burnt.' * The House persifting in 

* Rufhworth i. 425, 477 j Pari. Hift. ii. 378, 398 j Manwaring, Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 1 14. 






Stamford Rivers. 143 

its course of considering 'grievances,' on the 26th of June the 
King prorogued the Parliament to the 20th of October 
following. 

On the 1 8th of July Laud was translated from Bath and 
Wells to London, and within a month afterwards Mountague 
had been appointed to the see of Chichefter, and Manwaring 
presented by the King to the living of Stamford Rivers. * 
When October came the Parliament was again prorogued to 
the 20th of January following. Both Houses then assembled, 
and 'religion' soon became a chief topic of discussion. Marked 
reference was of course made to the preferments of Mountague 
and Manwaring, especially by Oliver Cromwell, who said: 
'He had heard .... Manwaring, so juftly accused for his 
sermons by this House, was .... preferred to a rich living. 
If these are steps to Church preferment^ what may we not 
expeclf f By the 25th of February the queftion of religion 
had reached a crisis. Certain Heads of Articles were presented 
by the Commons, in which they bitterly complain, not only of 
the countenance which had. been given to Popery, but also of 
'the subtle and pernicious spreading of the Arminian faction, 
whereby they have kindled such a fire of division in the very 
bonds of the State, as if not speedily extinguifhed, it is of 
itself sufficient to ruin our religion; and of the bold and un- 
warrantable introducing .... of sundry new ceremonies and 
laying of injunctions upon men .... without authority, .... 
as for example, in some places erecting of altars, in others 
changing the usual and prescribed manner of placing the 
communion table, and setting it at the upper end of the 
chancel, north and south, in imitation of the altar; .... and 
do also make obeisance by bowing thereto, commanding men 
to stand up at the 'Gloria Patri,' bringing men to queftion 
and trouble for not obeying that for which there is no 
authority.' The Articles conclude by suggefting, in the way 
of remedy, among other things: 'That the King would be 
graciously pleased to confer bifhoprics and other ecclesiastical 

* Newc. ii. 547 ; Pari. Hift. ii. 435. f Pari. Hift. ii. 464. 



144 Parliament Dissolved. 

preferments upon learned, pious, and orthodox men. That 
bifhops and clergymen may reside upon their charge. That 
some course may be considered of for providing .... a godly, 
able minifter in every parish church of the kingdom. And 
that His Majefty would be graciously pleased to make a special 
choice of such persons for the execution of his ecclesiastical 
commissions as are approved for integrity of life and soundness 
of docTxine.' 

Immediately after the reading of these Articles, the King 
sent to both Houses commanding them to adjourn to Monday, 
the 2nd of March, and on the ioth of that month Charles 
dissolved the Parliament. * It proved to be the last Parliament 
that England was to have for eleven years. During this whole 
period the Conftitution was suspended, and all authority and 
jurisdiction was monopolized by the Crown. 

* Pari. Hift. ii. 483—487. 



CHAPTER VI. 
1629 — 1639. 

SHORTLY after the diflolution of Parliament, Laud sub- 
mitted a series of ' considerations ' to the King, for 
the better settling of the church government.*" These were 
chiefly directed againft the c lecturers,' who had long been 
the chief dependence of the people for evangelical inftruction, 
and who were generally maintained by the voluntary contri- 
butions of their flocks. The bifhop alleged that by reason of 
their pay the lecturers were c the people's creatures,' and 
c blew the bellows of their sedition ;' wherefore special care 
' should be had of them in every diocese.' These c considera- 
tions ' suggefted that the c afternoon sermons may be turned 
into catechising, by questions and answers.' The afternoons 
being the seasons at which the lecturers commonly officiated, 
this was practically a suggestion for their absolute suppreflion. 
But c if this cannot be,' Laud continues, ' then this may be 
taken : that every bifhop ordain in his diocese, that every 

* Laud, on his trial, attributed the Chigwell in 1605, in which year he also 
original authorfhip of these considerations became Master of Pembroke Hall, Cam- 
to Samuel Harsnett, then Archbifhop of bridge. In 1606 he became Vicar of 
York. Troubles and Tryals, 356. Hutton ; in 1609 he refigned that 
Harsnett was born in the parifh of St. vicarage together with his prebend and 
Botolph's, Colchefter, where he was bap- the archdeaconry, and became Rector 
tized June 20, 1561. His father was a of Stifled, and before the end "of the 
baker. At the age of 15, he was sent to year he was consecrated Bifhop of 
King's College, Cambridge. In 1586 he Chichefter. In 1619 he was tranflated 
became master of the grammar school in to the see of Norwich, and in 1628 
his native town; in 1597, Vicar of made Archbifhop of York. In 1629, 
Chigwell; in 1598, prebendary of St. he was sworn of the Privy Council. 
Paul's; in 1602, Archdeacon of E flex ; Harsnett died in May, 1631, and was 
and in 1604, Rector of Sheffield, and buried in Chigwell Church. Morant, 
also of St. Margaret's, Fifh Street Hill, Col. 121; Newc. i. 173. 
London. He refigned the vicarage of 



146 The Lecturers. 

lecturer do read Divine Service in his surplice before the 
lecture ; that where a lecturer is set up in a market town, it 
be read by a combination of grave and orthodox divines near 
adjoining ; that if an incorporation do maintain a lecturer, 
that he be not suffered to preach till he take upon him cure 
of souls within that incorporation ; that the bifhops do 
countenance and encourage the grave and orthodox divines 
of his clergy, and gain them in the several quarters of his 
diocese, to be present at such lecturer's sermons as are near 
them, that so the bifhop may have knowledge.' Laud also 
suggested c that Emmanuel and Sidney Colleges, which,' he 
says c are the nurseries of Puritanism, may be provided of 
grave and orthodox men for their governors.' Having obtained 
the concurrence of the King in these c considerations,' Laud 
proceeded to take action upon them forthwith, and before the 
end of the year numbers of lecturers had fallen victims to 
his tyranny ; among them, John Rogers, of Dedham ; Daniel 
Rogers, of Wethersfleld ; and John Archer, of Halfted. 

John Rogers was a near relative of Richard Rogers, of 
Wethersfleld. He had been Vicar of Henningham, iir 
Norfolk, and afterwards minifter of Haverhill, in Suffolk. 
From Haverhill he removed to Dedham. He was one of 
the moil c awakening preachers of the age.' It was wont 
to be said, 'come, let us go to Dedham, and get a little fire.' 
John Rogers continued under suspension until 1631, when 
he was prevailed on to conform, but c he groaning under the 
burden,' his conformity was anything but strict. Giles 
Firmin, wjio was one of his converts, referring to this period 
of his miniftry, says : ' I never saw him wear a surplice, nor 
heard him use but a few prayers, and those I think he said 
memoriter. But this he would do in his preaching, draw 
his finger across his throat, and say, let them take me and 
hang me up, so that they will but remove these stumbling 
blocks out of the church.' John Rogers died in 1636. His 
remains were buried at Dedham."* 

* Brooks' Lives ii. 421,423 j Mather's Chefter, Life of Rogers, the protomartyr, 
Hift. of N. E. iii. 19, see also cxix, 2495 Life and Death of Mr. John 



Wethers field, Halsted, Bockin^. 



H7 



Daniel Rogers was the son of Richard Rogers, who had 
also been lecturer at Wethersfield. He was born in 1573, 
and educated at Cambridge, where he became a fellow of 
Chrift's College. He was for some time minifter at Haver- 
sham, in the county of Bucks. He succeeded to the 
lecturefhip on the removal of Stephen Marfhall, who imme- 
diately followed his father, to the vicarage of the adjoining 
parifh of Finchingfield. He was so greatly respected by 
many of the conforming clergy in the neighbourhood, that 
they sent a memorial to the bifhop on his behalf. Laud, 
however, was resolved, and he continued under suspenfion 
for some time. Rogers was ultimately reftored, and spent 
his laft days among his people at Wethersfield. He died 
in September, 1652, at the advanced age of eighty.* 



Angier. Lond., 1685; Taylor, Church 
in Dedham, 1862. Infra. Rogers wrote 
The Doctrine of Faith, wherein are prac- 
tically handled ten principal points, which 
explain the nature and use of It 5 iamo., 
1627. It is dedicated to 'Miftris Helen 
Bacon, of Shirland Hall, to the Ladye 
Mildmay, wife to Sir Henry Mildmay, 
of Graces, and to Miftris Gurdon, wife to 
Master Brampton Gurdon, of Arlington.' 
6th ed. 1634. An Exposition upon the 
first epiftle of Peter; fol., 1659. A 
Treatise of Love. Sixty Memorials of a 
Godly Life. There is a mural monument 
erected to his memory in the church at 
Dedham, with the following inscription: 
Johannes Rogersus 

Hie quam 
Praedicavit expectat 
Resurrectionem 
Octobri i8mo. 
Domini 1636. 
J Aetatis 65. 
J Minifterii 42. 
I Huic Ecclesiae. 3 1 . 
affect, sinceri simbolum 
Posuit. 
Geo. Dunii Chyrurg. Bonis. 



Obiit 



Hoc 



Close behind in the churchyard is a ledger 
stone, round the margin of which these 
words are traceable : — Ego Johannes 
Rogers, V.D. per annos 42 hujusce vero 
3 1 Ecclefiastes . . . opere transacto . . . 

diem 



o<a. 18. 

Life and 
income of 



animam . . . corpus remisi 
. . . praeftolor. Aet. 65 
1636. 

* Brooks ii. 149 — 151. 
Death of Angier, 67. The 
the lecturer was augmented in 1623 by 
the bequeft of Edward Mountjoy. Mor. 
ii. 372. The 'memorial' was enclosed in 
a letter from Samuel Collins, of Braintree, 
to Arthur Duck, Laud's Chancellor. 
MSS. S. P. O. Dom. Ser. Charles I. xvi. 
61. It is unfortunately mutilated, but in 
the fragments that remain there is men- 
tion made of ' Dr. Barkham,'as concurring 
with the memorialifts. John Barkham 
was Rector and Dean of Bocking, 16 16 
— 1643. Newc. ii. 68, 69. Rogers 
publifhed — < David's Cost ; or what it will 
coft to serve God aright;' Lond., 1619, 
8vo. ' A Practical Catechisme ; or a view 
of those principall truths according to 
Godlinesse, which are contayned in the 
Catechysme;' Lond., 1632, 1636, 4to. 
L 2 



148 Hals ted, Dunmow, Bocking. 

John Archer petitioned the bishop in the following humble 
terms : — ' Whereas your lordfhip's humble petitioner, by your 
censure is suspended from all minifterial employment, and 
lyeth under your lordfhip's heavy displeasure, whereof he is 
very sensible ; your lordfhip being his right reverend diocesan, 
he humbly prayeth that what errors through his inexperience, 
your lordship beinge the firft and onely diocesan before whom 
he hath been convented, have been committed, for which 
he is heartily sorry, may by your mercy be remitted ; he in 
all humility referringe himselfe by your lordfhip's grave advice, 
to be inftxucted and rectified in any matter of opinion or 
practise, proferringe himselfe and defiringe to be accounted 
obedient to the government eftablifhed, and conformable to the 
doctrine and discipline of the Church of England. And your 
petitioner prayeth that your lordfhip having already taken the 
censuring of him into your owne hands, would be so far pro- 
pitious to him as to keepe off any further moleftation, in tender 
commiseration of your petitioner's weakness of body eftate, 
whereby he is disabled to that attendance which the letters 
miffine require of him. So shall he remain, your lordfhip's 
humble orator.' It quite consifts with this petition that we 
should afterwards hear of Archer as c preaching boldly againft 
parliament, assembly, directory, minifhy and all.' * 

About the same time Nathaniel Rogers also was compelled 
to leave the diocese. Nathaniel was the son of John Rogers, 
of Dedham. He had now, for some five years, been curate 
at Bocking. Having given his rector offence by burying c an 
eminent person' of the parifh without putting on the surplice, 
Barkham, his rector, dismissed him. The inhabitants of 
Bromley, near Colchefter, hearing of this were anxious to 
secure him as their lecturer. At the same time also, a friend 

' Treatise of Baptism and the Lord's his ' Prediction concerning Charles I. 
Supper ;' Lond., 1636. ' Lectures on and Archbiihop Laud ;' Lond., 1692. 
the Hiftory of Naaman the Syrian, his * MSS. S. P. O. Dom. Ser. Charles I. 

disease and cure j' Lond., 1642, fol. clxxxii. 71 j Edwards, Gangraena ii. 18. 
There were also published after his decease, Edwards was for some time minifter at 

Dun mow. Infra. 



Bromley 3 Coggeshall^ Hatfield. 140 

of his father's offered him the living of Assington, in the 
county of Suffolk. Previously to this Rogers had married a 
daughter of Mr. Crane, of Coggefhall. Having remained at 
Assington for some five years, c foreseeing the approach of the 
storm towards himself he . . . chose rather to prevent than to 
receive the censures of the Ecclefiaftical Court,' resigned his 
living, and embarked for New England. He arrived there in 
November, 1636, and on his arrival he became the colleague 
of an old Essex friend of his, John Norton, at Ipswich, where 
he died in July, 1655, at the age of 57. Mather says of him, 
' he was one of the greateft men that ever set foot on the 
American shore.' * 

There were also two other diftinguifhed men now laboring in 
the county who were molefted before the end of this year — 
Thomas Hooker and John Eliot. Thomas Hooker was a 
native of Marfield, in Leicefterfhire. He was a Fellow of 
Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After he left the University 
he first preached in the neighbourhood of London, and in 1625 — 
1626 he settled as c Lecturer' at Chelmsford. It should also 
appear that he was curate to John Michaelson, then rector of 
the parish. Hooker's miniftry at Chelmsford was singularly 
blessed, — c a great reformation being wrought by it, not only in 
the town, but also in the adjacent country,' in consequence 
of which he became a man of great influence throughout the 
county, and, indeed, throughout the east of England generally. 
He was compelled to lay down his miniftry about the autumn 

* Brooks ii. 238 5 Mather iii. cxiv. Ezekiel Rogers, the brother of Daniel 
* Samuel Crane, by his will dated Nov., of Wethersfield. He had been domeftic 
1609, did give the rents and property of chaplain to Sir Francis Barrington, of 
his messuages ... in Stanham Street, Hatfield, Broad Oak, for some six years, 
to the use of the poor of Great Cogges- by whom he was presented to the living 
hall, to be laid out in bread.' Mor. ii. of Rawley, in Yorkshire. Ezekiel also 
164. The Mercurius Brittanicus of July was driven to embark for New England, 
29 — Aug. 5, 1644, speaks of a letter of where he died, June 20, 1660. Mather 
Nathaniel Rogers, of New England, which iii. cxiii ; Brooks iii. 341. Ezekiel pub- 
had been then recently licensed, and says, lifhed * The Grounds of Religion by way 
' there was great joy in Oxford because of of a Catechism,' which was printed in 
it.' There was another of this noble octavo in London, 1648. 
family who left Eflex about this time, 



150 Little BaddtnU) Braintree^ Dedham. 

of 1628, but still continued to reside in the neighbourhood. 
c At the urgent request of several eminent persons,' Hooker 
opened a school at Little Baddow, and still occasionallv 
preached. For this last he was soon involved in trouble a 
second time. But the excitement which had been already 
occasioned by Laud's proceedings had so little advanced the 
cause of Conformity in the country, and the esteem in which 
Hooker was universally held, was so high, that one of the 
bifhop's best friends was induced to interfere. This was 
Samuel Collins, then vicar of Braintree. * Writing to Duck, 
Laud's Chancellor, May 20, 1629, Collins says: — 
my return from London I have spoken with Air. Hooker, but 
I have small hope of prevailing with him. All the favor he 
desires is that my Lord of London would not bring him into 
the High Commission Court, but permit him quietly to depart 

out of the diocese All men's eares are now filled with 

ye obstreprous clamours of his followers against my Lord .... 
as a man endeavouring to suppress good preaching am advance 
Popery. All would be here very calme and quiet if he might 

quietly departe If these jealousies . ... be inc eased 

by a rigorous proceeding against him, ye country may prove 
very dangerous. If he be suspended, . . . it's the resolution 
of his friends and himself to settle his abode in Essex, and 
maintenance is promised him in plentifuil manner for the 
fruition of his private conference, which hath already more 

* Collins, ante. He was imtiruted Dedham, and was :::;. wands publiihed. 

15th Feb., 1610, on the presentation of London, 1658, nmo. Newcomen says 

Robert Lord Rich. Newc ii. 89. He of his friend, 'O iis, if - ;;-./.;£ known 

was now surrogate. Cunnington, MSS. what service he had done fin this poore 

Hift. of Braintree i. 96. Newcomt con- towne, what a state, when he came -..r. 

founds him with another of the same hither, he found Brain::;; in, and 1 

name who was Provofr. of King's, Cam- state and degree of enunency in r: 

bridge. So also does Walker, Sufferings and outward propriety he . . . advanced 

of the Clergy ii. 218, and both accordingly it to, I am confident you would all have 

speak of him as a sufferer from the paid him the firft tribute rf love and 

' Rebellion.' But Collins never was se- reverence in his life, and honour at bis 

questered ; he retained his living until he death, which many of you did and do.' — 

died, in 1657. His funeral sermon was p. 57. Arthur Duck. Wood, Ath. Cx. 

preached by Matthew Newcomen, of ii. 125. 



Chelmsford. 1 5 1 

impeached the peace of our church than his publique miniftry. 
His genius will still haunte all the pulpits in ye country, where 
any of his scholers may be admitted to preach .... All 
regular and discrete men, especially that live in popular places, 
will be brought into that diftast and contempt among their 
people by theere meanes as their burthen will become intoler- 
able. There be divers young minifters about us, ... . that 
.... spend their time .... in conference with him .... 
and return home .... and preach .... what he hath 
brewed .... Our people's pallats grow so out of tast, yt noe food 
contents them but of Mr. Hooker's dressing. I have lived in 
Essex to see many changes, and have seene the people idolizing 
many new minifters and lecturers, but this man surpasses them 
all for learning and some other considerable partes, and .... 

gains more and far greater followers than all before him 

I am persuaded if my Lord would permit him to departe 
without further queftion, so yt he would doe it cito et sine 
strepitu, our people would be soon weaned from him and 
gained to theere owne paftors againe ; eadem opera, the country 
would be ridd of some turbulent spirits that, under the cloke 

of conformity, doe much disturbe our peace My Lord 

.... will be careful who succeeds him Its the .... 

greatest griefe of my soull to see how full of whirligiggs 
the heads of the people begin to growe .... if my Lord .... 
tender his owne future peace, .... let him connive at 
Mr. Hooker's departure .... And now I humbly crave your 
silence, and that when your worfhip hath read my letter none 
may see it, for if that some in the world should have ye 
least inkling hereof, my creditt and fortune were utterly 

ruined ]* The reply of the Chancellor was, at least, 

so far encouraging that Collins was induced to see Hooker on 
the subject, and on the 3rd of June he wrote to his friend once 
more :'.... on Monday I rode to Chelmsford to speake 
with him, .... but found him gone .... and purposed to 
returne to London to. appeare before my Lord upon the first 

* MSS. S. P. O. Doc. Ser. Charles I. clxii. 113. 



V 



152 Chelmsford \ Great Waltham, Rawreth. 

day of this terme, at which time I cannot be at London 

I pray God direct my Lord of London in this weighty business 
.... this will prove a leading case, and the issue thereof will 
either much incourage or else discourage the regular clergie. 
All men's heads, tongues, eyes, and ears are in London, and 
all the counties about London taken up with plotting, talking, 
and expecting what will be the conclusion of Mr. Hooker's 
business. .... It drowns the noise of the greate queftion of 
Tonnage and Poundage. I dare not say halfe of that I heare ; 
paper walls are easily broken open. But hearing and knowing 
as much as I doe, I dare be bold to say that if he be once 
quietly gone, my Lord hath overcame the greatest difficulty in 

governing this parte of his diocese let him be as 

cautelous as he will, yet in his present course the humour of 
our people will undoe him.' * 

It should seem that when the appointed time arrived Hooker 
appeared before the bishop, and a Mr. Nash, of Much Waltham, 
was bound in the sum of ^50 for his re-appearance when called 
for. On the 3rd of November following, John Browning, 
then Rector of Rawreth, f writes to Laud a long letter, in 
which he says :'.... Whereas one Mr. Hooker, lately in 
question before your honour .... doth .... even still, 
to this present, .... continue his former practices, may it 
therefore .... please your lordship to grant us .... ye 
helpe of your honourable authority, if not to ye suppreffinge 
and casting out (as we hope) such an one from amongst us, yet 
at least to the defendinge us who live in obedience .... 
I expected that ye party being called in question .... before 
your High Commission, might, without our subsidiary helpe 
and aid, be otherwise either reduced to order or punifhed for 
disorder. But hearing, at least, no further of any such pro- 

* MSS. State Paper Office. Domeftic B.D., an almoner of Peterhouse, and 

Ser. Charles I. cxliv. 567. Fellow of Jesus College, domeftic chap- 

f Browning's name does not appear in lain to Launcelot Andrews, Biftiop of 

Newcourt, but see infra. The Rev. J. Winchefter, was presented to the reclory 

C. White obliges me with the following of Rawreth, 1625. He died before Sept., 

from the parifh regifter : John Browning, 1648. Jo. House of Lords, x. 588. 



Rawrethj Chelmsford. 153 

ceedings, I have advertized, as you see, humbly entreating that, 
for ye avoiding of ye ill tongues of those by whose over-free 
language the fames of others, his opposers, ... . have 
already suffered, my name may be either altogether silenced or 
as much as possible may be concealed. And .... whereas 
it will be thought by some of the people hereabouts, being 
overmuch addicted to hearing the Word (as they call it) even 
to the neglect of God's holy and divine service and worfhip, 
that therefore great heart-burnings may arise againfl the sup- 
preffion of this man, as though thereby the word of God should 
suffer in the suppreffinge him and his lecture, I therefore . . . 
do most humbly offer myself and services thereto .... not 
doubtinge . . . many others, my neighbours, far more learned 
and able than myself, will joyne themselves for ye same pur- 
pose . . . .' * 

The fact of this or some similar communication having 
been addreffed to Laud by some means transpiring, on Friday, 
November 10, 1629, the following petition was prepared and 
forwarded to him, entreating him to pause : c . . . . Whereas 
we have heard that your honour hath been informed against 
Mr. Thomas Hooker, preacher at Chelmsford, that the con- 
formable ministers of these partes desire his removal from the 
place, we, whose names are hereunder written, being ministers 
in the partes adjoining, all beneficed men, and obedient to His 
Majesty's ecclefiastical laws, doe humbly give your lordship to 
understand that we all esteeme and knowe the said Mr. Thomas 
Hooker to be, for doctryne, orthodox, and life and conversation 
honest, and for his disposition peaceable, no wayes turbulent 
or factious, and so not doubting but he will contynue that good 
course, commending him and his lawfull suite to your lordship's 
honourable favor, and entreating the continuance of his libertye 
and paines there, we humbly take our leave, and remaine your 
honour's humbly at command : 

Edward Bosy, rector de Willingale Spaine.f 

* MSS. S. P. O. Dom. Ser. Charles I. f The time of his admiflion does not 

tli« 37- appear. He died before May, 1642. N. 

ii. 670. 



*54 



Petition of Beneficed Clergy 



William Horsfield, vicar de Wethersfield. 

John Michaelson, reclor de Chelmsford. 

Gilbert Dillingham, rector de Sandon."* 

Giles Alleyn, rector de Waltham Parva.t 

Ad. Harsnett, rector de Cranham. 1 

Will. Younge, rector of Greenstead. || 

Samuel Wharton, vicar de Felfted. § 

John Biddell, vicar of Little Leighs. fl 

Thomas Burr, vicar of Bromfyld. *"* 

John Newton, vicar of Little Badew. ft 

Thomas Welde, vicar of Terling. %% 

Samuel Collins, vicar de Brayntree. || || 

Robert Brooke, rector ecclesiae de Woodham Water. §§ 

John Manning, reclor de Chignall Smeling. 1HT 



* 9th April, 1 60 1. He was also Redtor 
of St. Giles'-in-the-Fields, London. He 
died before Jan., 1635. N. ii. 581, 
i. 613. 

f The father of John Aleyn, the 
benefactor of the parifh. Mor. ii. 94. 
He was inftituted 26th Nov., 1616. He 
was also Vicar of Mucking. He died 
before Nov., 1643. N. ii. 634, 427. 

% 8th Sept., 1612, on the presentation 
of John Lord Pete. He published, < A 
Cordial for the Afflicted, touching the 
necessity and utilitie of afflictions ;' 1 8mo. 
It is dedicated to Lady Johan Barrington, 
the aunt of Oliver Cromwell, and the Lady 
Mary Eden, the wife of Sir Thomas 
Eden, late of Ballingdon Hall. ' Touch- 
ftone of Grace, discovering the difference 
between true and counterfeit Grace ;' 
i8mo., 1630. He died before Sept., 
1639. N. ii. 195. There was afterwards 
publifhed of his ' God's Summons to a 
General Repentance 5' izmo., 1640. 

[| Grinfted juxt Ongar. He died 
before April, 1641. N. ii. 289. 

§ His name occurs in the parifh regis- 
ters, from 1 614 to 1 64 1. I am indebted 
tor this information to my friend the Rev. 



H, Gammidge. He was probably the son 
of the first Matter of the grammar school 
there. Mor. ii. 421. 

51 See Memorials. 

** Infra. 

ft He was still there in January, 1643. 
' Sumrae of a Conference at Terhng.' 
London, 1644, 4to. See Memorials. 

JJ Memorials, p. 

|| JJ Ante p. 150. 

§§ 14th December, 1 61 9. N. ii. 685. 
He had previously been Vicar of St. 
Olave Jewry, 1593—1599- N - '• S l S- 

fTqy 20th Sept. 1607. He continued 
rector until after the Reftoration, when 
he conformed. He is described as an 
able preaching minister, in the Lans- 
downe MSS., 459. This MS. is thus 
entered in the Catalogue : ' A regifter of 
all the church livings in the counties of 
Lancafter, Derby, Gloucester, York Weft 
Riding, Huntingdon, Hertford, Rutland, 
Essex, Cambridge, Wilts, Nottingham, 
Bucks, Worcefter, Devon, Isle of Wight, 
and Middlesex, with an account of their 
actual income, the names of the paftors 
and incumbents, and the particular cha- 
racter of many of the latter. It is sup- 



Petition of Beneficed Clergy 



55 



N. Bownd de Springfield. * 

Edward Rumboll, vicar of Stanfted Mountfiget. f 

George Wilson, vicar Ellesenham. J 

Samuel Hoard, rector of Morton. || 

Stephen Marshall, vicar of Ffinchingfield. § 

Mark Mott. <I 

Ralph Wharton, parson of Inworth.** 

Will. Pease, vicar of Burfted Magna, ff 

Chris. Scott, parson of Hockerill. XX 

Thos. Moody, rector of Haseleigh. || || 



posed to have been made about the year 
1654, for the use of the Commissioners 
appointed in the Act for ejecting scanda- 
lous, ignorant, and insufficient minifters.' 
The date assigned is evidently wrong. 
John Owen is mentioned in it as being of 
Coggeshall, whereas he had left for 
Oxford in 1651. Anthony Walker be- 
came Rector of Fifield at Michaelmas, 
1650, whereas Henry Havers is men- 
tioned as the incumbent at the date 
of the MSS. John Bowyer, who is 
mentioned as Vicar of Dagenham, died 
Oct. 16, 1650. See infra. I have, there- 
fore, always quoted the MSS. as being of 
the date of 1650. 

* Springfield Richards. He was also 
Rector of Braxsted Magna, from May, 
1612, to his death, before Oct. 1638. 
N. ii. 92, 539. 

-f He had also been Rector of Wendon 
Parva, from 1600 — 1610. He was in- 
stituted to Stansted, 18th June, 1601. 
N. ii. 561, 515. 

% He was still there in 1650, when 
he is described as a ' preaching divine.' 
Lansdowne MSS. 459. 

|| A. Londoner, of All Souls and St. 
Mary's Hall, Oxford ; Chaplain to the 
Earl of Warwick, by whom he was 
presented to this living. ' A zealous 
Calvinist in the beginning, but a greater 
Arminian afterwards.' He published, (1) 



' God's Love to Mankind manifefted by 
disproving his absolute decree for their 
Damnation.' Lond. 1633, 4to. 1673, 
8vo. ( 2 ) ' The Church's Authority 
Asserted,' a Visitation Sermon, preached 
at Chelmsford, before Abp. Laud. Lond. 
1637, 4to. (3) ' The Soul's Misery,' a 
Sermon. London, 1636, 8vo. 1657, 4to. 
and others. Wood Ath. ii. 221. He 
died Feb. 15, 1657, and was buried in 
the chancel at Moreton. 
§ Memorials. 
f[ Memorials. 

** Walker says, the Reclor of Inworth 
was sequeftered, ii. 281. But Wharton 
was still here in 1647, infra., and his 
successor, Robert Dod, Memorials, is 
entered in Newcourt as ' per mort 
Wharton,' ii. 348. He is probably re- 
ferred to in Laud's account of his province, 
June 2, 1636. 'Mr. Wharton, a minister 
in Essex, who, in a sermon at Chelmsford, 
uttered many unfit and some scurrilous 
things ;' he hath been convented and 
received canonical admonitions.' 

ff 2 1 st Aug. 1596. He died before 
Feb. 1639. N. i. 16. 

XX 4-th March, 161 7. Died before 
March, 1632. N. ii. 320. 

|| || 4th October, 1598. A Thomas 
Moody was minifter there in 1650, when 
he is described * as an able preaching 
minifter.' Landsdovvne, 459. Thomas 



i S 6 



Petition of Beneficed Clergy. 



Thos. Fuller, vicar de Stebbing. " x " 

Geo. Drakes, vicar of Lindsell. f 

Daniel Duckfield, vicar de Childerditch. J 

Nich. Padmore, vicar of Southweld. || 

Isaac Joyner, rector de Springfield Boswell. 

Robert Paley, vicar of Heibridge. § 

Neh. Rogers, vie. de Messing. 1T 

Isaac Joyner, rector de Norton Mandeville. - x "* 

Thomas Graves, rector of Cheping Ongar. ft 

Samuel Pigbon, vicar de Roding Margaret. %% 

Edmund Normington, rector de Bradwell. || || ■ 

John Edes, rector de Lawford. §§ 



Stable seems to have succeeded. MSS. 
Extracts from Juxon's Regifter; Harl. 
MSS. B. Museum. 

* 24th October, 1600. He died be- 
fore 20th January, 1633. N. ii. 557. 

f Newcourt has George Draper, 27 th 
April, 15965 10th February, 1631 5 
ii. 391. 

t 8th November, 161 1. Memorials. 

|| Died before 4th April, 1640. N. ii. 
646 ; infra. 

§ See infra. 

^[ Instituted 13 th May, 1620. He 
was the son of Vincent Rogers, of Strat- 
ford Bow, where he was born October 
20th, 1594. He was supposed to have 
been a grandson of John Rogers, the 
Martyr, and was a brother of Timothy 
Rogers, of Chappell. Rogers was Fellow 
of Jesus, Cambridge. His first appoint- 
ment was to the curacy of St. Margaret's, 
Fish Street Hill, London, whence he 
removed to Essex. In 1632 he was 
inftituted to the sinecure rectory of Marks 
Tay. In 1636 he was collated to the 
prebend of the sixth stall of Ely. In 
March, 1642, he was inftituted to the 
rectory of St: Botolph's, Biftiopsgate, on 
the presentation of Laud, when, according 
to Newcourt, he resigned Messing and 
Marks Tay, so that Walker must be 



wrong, ii. 343. Rogers was sequeftered 
at Biftiopsgate in 1643, and at Ely in 
1645. ^ e continued to preach, however, 
for three years at Little Braxted, for up- 
wards of six at St. Osyth, where he is 
found in 1650, and ultimately became 
rector of Doddinghurst, where he died. 
The Rev. W. Marbey kindly informs me 
that he was buried there May 9th, 1660. 
Newc. ii. 417, 5125 i. 313. Chefter, 
Life of John Rogers, 277, 279. Dedica- 
tion to 'Fast Friend at Midnight,' 4to. 
1659. Besides the Fast Friend, Rogers 
also publiftied — (2.) On the Parable of the 
Prodigal, Lond. 1632, 4to. (3.) Two 
Sermons on 2 Cor. vii. ii. Lond., 1624, 
4to. (4.) On Luke xv. 5, 9, 10, Lond- 
1632, 4to. (5.) On the Parable of the 
Good Samaritan, Lond. 1640, 4to (6.) 
On Luke x. 1, 11, Lond. 1658,4^0. 

#* i nst _ 1598. N. ii. 440. 

ff Dec. 18, 1 61 7. Died before 19th 
June, 1635. Newc. ii. 451. 

XX 3rd Feb., 1 601. Died before 17th 
Dec, 1635. N. ii. 506. 

|| || Juxta Coggeftiall. Newcourt calls 
him Normanton 5 he died before 1639. 
N. ii. 82. 

§§ 2nd March, 1615. Newc. ii. 374. 
In 1645 he gave evidence at the trial of 
certain women who were accused of witch- 



Petition of Beneficed Clergy. 



157 



Edward Greene, rector de Shelly.* 

H. Walmesley de Blakernore. f 

Jer. Dyke, vicar de Eppinge. J 

Simon Lynch, Northweld. || 

Thos. Juby, rector de Theydon Mount. § 

Thos. Denne, vicar de Latton. ff 

Theodore Herringe, rector of Duddinghurft 

Chriftopher Dennis, rector de Warley Parva. ff 



■K--H- 



craft at Chelmsford. Ten women were 
executed at Chelmsford, and four at Man- 
ingtree : one died on the way to execution 
and another in prison. Rebecca Wefte, 
againft whom Edes gave evidence, escaped. 
'A true and exact relation of the several 
Informations, Examinations and Con- 
feflions of the late witches arraigned and . 
executed in EfTex.' Lond., 1645, 4*0. see 
also Newcourt i. 442. The Rev. C. 
Merivale obliges me with the following 
from the Parifh regifter, 'John Edes, 
Rector of Lawford forty three years, de- 
ceased the 1 2th April, 1658.' 

* He was still there in 1650. Lansd. 
MSS. 459. 

f N. ii. 65. 

t 2 1st March, 1609, and died before 
17th May, 1630. He was the son of 
William Dyke, of Coggeshall, as appears 
from the following extract from the parifh 
regifter, for which I am indebted to my 
friend the Rev. B. Dale. ' 1584, Oft. 13, 
Hieremy, sonne of William Dike, preacher 
of Coggerfhall.' He was the father of 
Jeremy Dyke, of Parndon, and also of 
Daniel Dyke, of Hadham, see Memorials. 
He publifhed some sermons, Two on 
Luke xii. 15; and Col. iv. 17. Lond., 
1619, 4to. Sermon at the Publique Fast, 
1628 ; Sermon, dedicatory, at the Conse- 
cration of the Chapel at Epping, 16235 
and one on Heb. xi. 7. Lond., 1628 ; also 
'A Treatise concerning a good conscience. 1 



Lond., 1624, 1626, 16355 and two 4to 
volumes of the works of his brother Daniel, 
of whom see Strype, Annals iii. i. 214, 
691 ; ii. 470 5 Aylmer 104, 201, 203 5 
Whitgift ii. 6 5 the second part appeared 
in 1633. Brooks' Lives ii. 279. Brooks 
is miftaken as to the date of his death. 

|| Aylmer, who was his relative, pre- 
sented him to this vicarage in Aug., 1592, 
saying, ' play, cousin, with this awhile, till 
a better comes.'' Aylmer afterwards offered 
him ' Brentwood Weald,' which was three 
times better, but Lynch refused it, ' an- 
swearing that he preferred the weal of 
his parifhioners souls before any other 
weal whatsoever.' He lived 61 years in 
wedlock with Elizabeth his wife, and had 
10 children, 'one of whom was Simon 
Lynch, of Runwell.' Fullers' Worthies 
337. ed. 1662. He is returned in 1650 
'as an able preacher, and well liked of by 
the parifhioners.' Lands. MSS. 459. He 
was buried at North Weald, 24th May, 
1656. 

§ 26th Jan., 1 60 1 ; and died before 
25th June, 1637. N. ii. 585. 

^j 1 8th June, 16005 an d refigned 
before 18th May, 1632. There was a 
Thomas Denne, Rector of Nettleswell, 
1634 — 1640. N. ii. 367, 435. 

** Refigned before nth June, 1646. 
N. ii. 223, 

ff 30th Oct., 1627 ; and refigned 
before 28th May, 1632. N. ii. 642. 



158 Petition of Beneficed Clergy. 

Tib. Hewett, rector de Bulpha. * 
Nathaniel Ward, re&or of Stondon Mercy, f 
Thomas Clopton, rector of Ramsden Bellowes. J 
Gulielmus Pindar, rector of Harwood Stock. || 

The next week following, under date of the 17 th November, 
another petition was presented to the bifhop, which, strange to 
say, was signed by some of the same persons who had previously 
attached their signatures to the petition of the 10th. This pe- 
tition was as follows :....' Shew wee of the conformable 
part of the cleargy of his lordfhip's diocese, whose names are 
hereunder written our disconsolate .... condition through 
want of a generall uniformity therein, most men a doing what 
seemeth good in their own eyes, and fewe regarding the autho- 
rity of the Church or their own dutie. By reason of which 
licentious irregularities we, the said conformitants, shall be 
enforced, eyther with nonconformitants to runne the same way 
against lawe and conscience, or else to loose . . . the credite 
... of our minifterie. May yt therefore please your good 
lordfhip to take the state of this your diocese into your ffatherly 
confideration, and although not relax unto us that tye by which 
we stand obliged to the lawful ceremonies of our church, yet 
to enforce these irregulars to conforme with us. That soe there 
may effectualy be wrought a generall uniformitie amongst us all. 
And yf either amongst us or them there shall be fownd any 
which are eyther superftitious or profane, your lordfhip will be 
pleased to proceede with t'one and t'other according to your 
graver wisdom and discretion, and soe to purge the whole body 
of this your diocese of whatsoever doth or may difturbe the 
peace and welfare of the same, and thus to bring to that gen- 
erall uniformitie so much to be defired. That hereby God 

* Dec, 1616; and died before 3rd J Nov. 16, 1616. He is returned 

April, 1661. He is returned in 1650 as ini65oas'a preaching minifter.' Lands- 

'Toby Hewett (sic), a godly, orthodox, downe MSS. 459. He conformed at the 

and preaching minisfter.' Lansdowne Reftoration, and died before July, 1663. 

MSS. 459. II MSS. State Paper Office, Dom. 

f Memorials. Ser. Charles I. cli. 45. 



Petition of Conformist Clergy. 159 

Almighty may be most glorified, the church better edified, your 
lordfhip's owne self most honoured, and we the poore minifters 
of your diocese better encouraged, for which we shall bee ever 
bound to pray for your lordfhip's long and happie government 
of this sea : 

John Norton, rector de Dunton. * 

Tib Hewett, rector de Bulpha. f 

W. Hurt, vicarius de Horndon sup Montem. 

Robertus Raymet, rector de Bower GifFord. % 

Gulielmus Byat, rector de Thundersley. || 

Johannes Browninge, rector de Rawreth. § 

Robert Durden, rector de Runwell. IT 

S. Bull, rector de Bowmans. 

Franciscus Webbe, rector de Woodham Ferrars. ** 

Thomas Oxley, rector de Chignell St. Jacobi. ff 

Alexander Bangman, rector de Kelvedon. %% 

Peter Alen, vicar of Fobbing. || || 

Johannes Harison, rector de Mafhburie. 

Ma. Gill, rector de Tolleshunt Milit. 

Tho. Salcoat, rector St. Michael de Milend. §§ 

Johannes Brookes, rector de Widforde. IF 11 

Theophilus Roberts, rector St. Nicholas, Colchefter. *** 

* Infra. f[f 6th May, 1597. Had voided before 

f Ante p. 158. October, 1636. N. ii. 662. 

I 19th April, 1608. Died before # ** 30th April, 1609. He is severely 

January, 1636. N. ii. 102. . reflected upon in some scurrilous lines 

|| 27th April, 1619. Resigned before preserved among the State Paper Office 

15th May, 1640. N. ii. 587. MSS. Domeftic Service, Charles, ccxxiv. 

§ Ante p. 152. 123. 'Agaynst the person or prest of St. 

% 22nd June, 1604. N. ii. 511. Nicholasses : ' — 

** 6th October, 1627. Died before 'The complaint which I have in hand 

October, 1641. He was also rector of Is of our parech teutore, 

Paglefham. N. ii. 662, 459. Because with honner he is turned 

ft 3rd April, 1620. Died before Jan., To be a persicutor. 

1638. He had previously been rector of The reson whi is onlie this — 

Newenden, 1615 — 1618. N. ii. 138, 436. His perech would not yeld 

XX Resigned before January, 1640. That he a foolech rayle mayt not 

Walker calls him Bonniman, and says he About the tabell build. 

was sequeftered, ii. 200. See Memorials. And now all those that will not paie 

|| Possibly afterwards of Tollesbury. To building of the same, 

Infra. Seque fixations. Then unto Dockter Ailett's core, 

§§ Died before Sept., 1641. N. ii. 420. He will returne ther name.' 



160 Petition of Conformist Clergy. 

Stephen Nettles, rector of Lexden. * 

Jo. Mapletofte, vicarius de Margetting. t 

Johannes South, vicar de Writtle. J 

Gabriel Ploinfold, vicar de Ardleigh. || 

Thos. Reddrich, rector de Langford. § 

Daniel Duerdon, rector de South Benflete. IT 

Johnes Jegon, rector de Hedingham Sible. ** 

Thos. Meighen, vicarius de Tolleshunt Major, ft 

Chriftopher Webbe, rector de Braxted Parva. {J 

Steph. Newcomen, vicar Ecclesiae St. Petri, Colch. || 

Nicholas Padmore, vicar Ecclesiae de South Weald. Ffor 

conformity I am a humble petitioner, with the rest of my 

brethren. §§ 

Thomas Horsmanden, rector de Purleigh. 1HT 

Gulielmus Preston, rector de Woodham Martiner. *"** 

Johannes Clark, vicarius de Badew Mag. ft t 

Nan sine causa humilitatis petit. Robertus Paley, vicarius 

de Heibridge. J J J 

Johannes ? rector de Warley Magna. || 

* Infra Sequeftrations. both at the reftoration, and died October, 

■f He was also rector of Wickford. 1669. Newc. ii. 935 i. 827, 883. 

He died before September, 1636. N. ii. Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, ii. 399. 

407,656. Illl Admitted 18th July, 1600. He 

J Infra Sequeftrations. must have died shortly after signing this 

|| Infra Sequeftrations. He is also petition, as the admission of his successor 

severely used in the lines above quoted. took place in the January following. N. 

'Ffor all though a skoller that he be, ii. iy . 

And all soe a devine, §§ Ante p. 156. 

Yet better he loves a pretye wench, ^[^[ Died before March, 1632. N. ii. 

And all soe a cup of wine.' 476. 

§ Died before September, 1637. *** 23rd September, 1613. Died 

^[ 21st April, 1612. Died before before 1640. N. ii. 683. 

October, 1 641. N. ii. 47. ff-f nth October, 1616. Died before 

** Infra Sequeftrations. 13th September, 1642. 

ff Infra Memorials. Xtt Ante P- *5 6 - 

JJ Resigned before October, 1630. He || || || This was the succeffor of John 

was admitted vicar of Sabridgeworth, Fabian, of whom see Ath. Cant. ii. 288. 

Herts, 16th August, 1630, and rector of The Messrs. Cooper are miftaken in say- 

Gedlefton, in the same county, 1st April, ing that Fabian voided before Aug., 1600. 

1639. Newcourt says that he was ejected He died Rector in 1626. The Rev. Dr. 

from both livings in 1643. He recovered Robinson, to whom I am indebted for 



Petition of Conformist Clergy. 161 

Robert Spencer, rector de (Gingrave ? ) * 

John Childerley, rector of (Springfield). I humbly desire 
the promotion of this cause of uniform conformitie as a thing 
much wanting, and no lesse needfully, f 

Gulielmus Innes, vicar Dorocar. % 

Giles Burie, rector de Bradwell juxta Mare. || 

W. Jackson, rector de North Ockendon. In all submission 
to your high wisdome, I most humbly subscribe to this humble 
petition. § 

Ro. Willan, parson of Stanway. I greatly feare that to be 
too true which is informed, and doe humbly petition the same 
thing. 1T 

Gulielmus Eyre, rector eccles. de Horksley Mag. I desire 
not to be released from conformitie, but joyne with my brethren 
in the petition for uniformitie. ** 

Andr. Cooke, vie. Mund. ft 

Influenced rather by the second of these petitions than the 
firft, Laud summoned Hooker very shortly after they were 
presented to him, but Hooker this time did not appear. His 
bail was therefore ^forfeited. The Earl of Warwick now 
became his friend, and concealed him for some time at c Old 
Park.' From hence he made his escape to Holland. He 
remained there, firft at Amfterdam, afterwards at Delft, and 
then at Rotterdam, where he became co-paftor with William 
Ames ; and at length, hearing of some of his Essex friends who 



valuable extra els from the parifh regifters, ** 20th Jan., 161 7. Died before 

informs me that there is no Rector's name March, 1642. Newcourt thinks him to 

to be traced between Fabian and Edward be the Eyre of whom Wood says, that he 

Ford, 1637. was 'educated at Emmanuel College, 

* 9th Feb., 1589. Died before Oct., Cambridge, and between whom and Usher 

1638. N. ii. 282. palTed many letters, some of which were 

f Memorials. « De Textibus Hebraice veteris Testamenti 

X Infra. variantibus lectionibus ; ' ' An 1 607, 

|| Infra. printed Lond., 1652. Ath. Ox. ii. 458 j 

§ Infra. N. ii. 334. 

^| Also Rector of Geftingthorpe. He f f Mundon. 5th March, 1604. Died 

died before Oct., 1630. N. ii. 554, 281. before March, 1633. N. ii. 428. 

M 



1 52 Chelmsford, Little Baddow, N a sing. 

were about to sail for New England, he resolved to join them. 
Accordingly he came over to this country for this purpose, and 
after more than once narrowly escaping the hands of Laud, he 
sailed from the Downs in the year 1633. Hooker and his 
company were the firft settlers in the town of Cambridge, 
N.E. * He died July 7, 1647, at the age of 61. f 

While Hooker kept school at Little Baddow, he had for his 
assistant the juftly celebrated John Eliot. Eliot was born of 
godly parents at Nasing, in this county, about November, 
1604. He was educated at Cambridge. After leaving the 
University, he came under the influence of Thomas Hooker, 
of his abode with whom he thus wrote many years afterwards : 
c To this place was I called through the infinite riches of 
God's mercy in Chrift Jesus to my poor soul, for here the 
Lord said unto my dead soul live ! live ! and through the 
grace of God I do live, and I shall live for ever ! When 
I came to this blessed family, I then saw as never before the 
power of godliness in its lovely vigor and efficacy.' Eliot 
embarked for New England in company with the wife and 
children of Governor Winthrop. On his arrival in America 
he settled down at Roxbury. 

It is to John Eliot, in company with another Essex minifter, 
Thomas Shepard, who also settled in New England, and of 
whom we shall shortly hear again, that, under God, we owe 
the origin of modern millions. One of the main objects with 
a view to which the Puritans had originated the colony of 
Massachussets, was stated, in the charter granted them by 

* There is a full account of them, to- Feb. 24, 1630, informs him that he had 

gether with their names, in the Trans- attended the lecture at Chelmsford on the 

actions of the MafTachuffets Historical Tuesday previously. 'The lecture,' he says, 

Society. < was preached by Mr. South, of Writtle, 

f Brooks' Lives iii. 64, 70 5 Mather, but I saw no conformity in hood or sur- 

Hist. of N. E. iii; Neal i. 572. To the plice, ye confeffion and absolution were 

list that Brooks has given of Hooker's read by Mr. Michelson, a psalme sung and 

writing should be added the preface to to ye sermon. I forbore the first time to 

' Dr. Ames, his fresh suit against cere- find fault, not knowing your lordfhip's 

monies.' Mather N. E. ib. After Hooker direction. ' S. P. O. Dom. Ser. clxi. 54. 

was silenced, Robert Aylett, then refident There is a full memoir of Aylett. Biog. 

at Feering, writing to Laud, under date Diet. S. O. U. K. 






N a sing, Little Baddovj. 163 

Charles I. in March, 1648-9, to be, that they c may wynne 
and excite the natives of the country to the knowledge and 
obedience of the onlie true God and Saviour of mankinde.' 
The seal of the colony was an Indian, with a label in his 
mouth containing the words, c Come over and help us.' In 
1646, an order was passed by the 'General Court' to promote 
the diffusion of the gospel among the Aborigines, and Eliot, 
who had by this time learned their language, in the October of 
that year began his labours among them. Eliot had previously 
been in communication with his friends in England on the 
subject, and now a frefh intereft. was awakened on their part 
in the missionary work, by the simultaneous appearance of his 
tract, entitled ' The Day-breaking of the Gospel,' and Thomas 
Shepard's c Clear shining of the Gospel.' These tracts were 
publifhed in London in 1647, with two prefatory epiftles, the 
one of which was addrefTed to the then Parliament, and the 
other to the c godly and well-affected ' of the nation, both 
of which were signed by, among others, Stephen Marfhall 
and Edmund Calamy. The appeal to the Parliament so far 
succeeded that an order was made on the 7th of March, 1647, 
to prepare an ' Ordinance ' upon the subject. The matter, 
however, remained in abeyance until July 27, 1649, when 
a corporation was inftituted, bearing the title of the c Prefident 
and Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England.' 
A general contribution was also ordered, and made throughout 
England, for the requisite funds, which was inverted in lands, 
and Eliot was one of the firft salaried agents of the new 
society. At the Reftoration, the funds and the society became 
endangered ; but Robert Boyle taking the matter up, the funds 
were rescued, and the society revived. This was the origin 
of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 
Parts. * 

It was not until the year 1660 that Eliot formed the first 
Church of Native Indians. The next year following Eliot 

* Sylvefter. Life and Times of Richard persons, befides the prefident, a treasurer, 
Baxter. Scobell, Adte and Ordinances ii. and fourteen aflistants. Herbert Pelham, 
66. The Corporation consifted of fixteen infra, was one of them. 

M 2 



164 Little Baddow^ Nasing^ Coggeshall. 

had completed and publifhed an Indian translation of the New 
Teftament; and in 1663 he followed it up by a complete 
translation of the whole Bible, which was accompanied by a 
Catechism and a metrical version of the Psalms of David in 
English. Eliot's Indian Bible was the first ever publifhed in 
America. Soon afterwards he publifhed an c Indian Translation 
of Baxter's Call to the Unconverted,' and a similar translation 
of c The Practice of Piety,' also an 'Indian Psalter,' and an 
'Indian Grammar;' and in 1665 it was Eliot's privilege to 
found an Indian College. He was spared to a good old age, 
and was permitted to labour almost to the last. Eliot died in 
May, 1690, in his 86th year. The last words on his lips were 
'Welcome joy.' 'I think,' says his friend, Thomas Shepard, 
' that we can never love nor honour this man of God enough. 
The name of the Apoftle to the Indians must always stand in 
diftinguifhed brightness on that roll of the servants of the 
Most High whom New England delights, and ever will 
delight, to honor in the records of her Moral Hiftory.' * 

In 1630 Laud suspended Thomas Shepard also. Shepard 
was a native of Towcefter, in Northumberland, where he was 
born on the 5th of November, 1605, as near as could be 
guessed 'at the very hour when the blowe should have been 
given in the execrable Gunpowder Treason.' He also was a 
fellow of Emmanuel. About the time that Shepard left the 
University, one Dr. Wilson, having resolved to maintain a 
lecture in Essex, proposed to him that he should undertake it. 
It was originally intended to set up the lecture at Coggeshall, 
but, at the request of the people at Earl's Colne, it was 
eftablifhed for three years among them. To Earl's Colne 
Shepard went accordingly, and on the expiring of the three 
years the people resolved to support him themselves. He 
laboured there in usefulness until December, 1630, when the 

* Jared Sparks. Library of American the authorship ; that it was written by a 
Biography, vol. v. Brooks' Lives iii. 484. Puritan Minister. It was printed about 
' The Practice of Piety ' is attributed to forty times in English, and was also trans- 
Lewis Bayley, Bishop of Bangor, 161 6 — lated into Welsh, and into French. Wood, 
1632. There is another version given of Ath. Ox. ii. 569. 



Earl's Colne. 165. 

bifhop issued his 'inhibition/ and commanded him to appear 
before him in London on the 16th of that month. In an 
extract from Shepard's private diary, publifhed by the Massa- 
chussets Hiftorical Society in their ' Collections,' we have 
the following account of what took place when he and the 
bifhop met: 'As soon as I came in the morning, about eight of 
the clock, falling into a fit of rage, he asked me what degree I 
had taken at the University. I answered him, I was a Matter 
of Arts. He asked me how long I had lived in his diocese. 
I answered three years and upwards. He asked also who 
maintained me all this while, charging me to deal plainly with 
him, adding withal that he had been more cheated and equivo- 
cated with by some of my malignant faction than ever was man 
by a Jesuit. At the speaking of which words he looked as if 
he had been haunted with an ague-fit. .... I desired him to 
excuse me. He fell to threaten me, and withal to bitter railing, 
call me all to nought, saying, ' You prating coxcomb, do you 
think all the learning is in your brain?' He pronounced his 
sentence thus: 'I charge you that you neither preach, read, 
marry, bury, nor exercise any minifterial function in my 
diocese; for if you do, and I hear of it, I'll be upon your 
back and follow you wherever you go, in any part of the 
kingdom, and so everlaftingly disenable you.' I besought him 
not to deal so in regard of a poor town, and here he stopped 
me in what I was going to say. 'A poor town? you have a 
company of seditious, factious bedlams, and what do you prate 
to me of a poor town? ' I prayed him to suffer me to catechise 
on the Sabbath daye, in the afternoon. He replied, 'Spare your 
breath, I'll have no such fellows prate in my diocese ; get you 
gone, and now make your complaint to whom you will.' So 
away I went, and blessed be God that I may go to him.' 

On his suspension at Earl's Colne, Shepard went into York- 
fhire. There, however, he was involved in fresh troubles by 
the tyranny of Neal, Laud's friend, who was then Archbifhop 
of York. He therefore resolved to embark for New England. 
He set sail from Gravesend, in company with several others of 
his fellow-sufferers, in July', 1635. He died at Cambridge, in 



1 66 Newport^ Bumstead. 

New England, in August, 1649, at the age of 49. On his 
death-bed he said to the young ministers around him, ' that their 
work was great and called for great seriousness, and witnessed 
to three things concerning himself: that the study of every 
sermon cost him tears ; that before he preached any sermon he 
got good by it himself; and that he always went into the pulpit 
as if he was to give up his account to his Matter.' Mr. 
Johnson, who, a few years after Shepard's death, wrote a little 
work entitled 'Wonder-working Providence,' says of him, 
' Thousands of soules have reason to bless God for him, even 
at this very day, who are the seal of his miniftry. He was a 
man of a thousand ; endowed with abundance of true saving 
knowledge for himself and others.' * 

Such proceedings on the part of the bifhop soon resulted in 
many leaving the county of their own accord. The year that 
Shepard was suspended a confiderable company was found at 
Sudbury, which, before the end of the year, bade farewell to 
fatherland for ever ! At the head of this company was a man 
to whom the neighbourhoods of Newport and Bumftead 
especially owe much. This was John Wilson, a native of 
Windsor, and the third son of William Wilson, Chancellor of 
St. Paul's. He also was a Cambridge man. While a student 
at the Univerfity he derived great good from the reading of 
Richard Rogers' c Seven Treatises,' and also from the reading 
of the writings of Arthur Dent. There he also formed a fast 
friendfhip with William Ames, who, with several others, was 
in the habit of meeting in Wilson's study for conference and 
prayer. When he left Cambridge he became chaplain in the 
house of Lady Sundamore, and while there he itinerated 
much in the borders of EiTex and Suffolk, where his miniftry 
was much frequented, some coming even from the Univerfity 

* Brooks' Lives iil. 102, 106 ; Mather againft a ftated form of Prayer and a set 

iii. 84 — 87; Collections of the Mafia- Liturgy,' by Thomas Allin and Thomas 

chuflets Hiftorical Society, vol. iii. 43. Shepard. 4to ; Sermons, 1703, i2moj 

To the list of Thomas Shepard's published and a Wedding Sermon on Gen. iii. 18. 

works, given by Brooks, there should be 171^, 8vo. 
added ' Defence of the Nine Pofitions 






Newport) Bocking. 167 

of Cambridge to hear him ; among others, Thomas Goodwin, 
Jeremiah Burrowes, and William Bridge. His first sermon 
was preached at Newport. In 16 18 he succeeded the father 
of William Jenkyn, at Sudbury. Wilson's first troubles arose 
from the very trifling circumftance of a lady making a com- 
parison between his preaching and that of Dr. Barkham, of 
Bocking, greatly to the disadvantage of the Doctor. Barkham 
was weak enough to complain to Laud ; and Laud, only too glad 
to have an opportunity of molefting such a man as Wilson, went 
so far as to suspend him. He was reftored again, however, but 
not long afterwards he was silenced by his own bifhop of 
Norwich. Wilson was reftored a second time, mainly through 
the intercefiion of the Earl of Warwick. But he was still so 
frequently molefted that he refigned his living and joined the 
little band of voluntary exiles that was forming in the neigh- 
bourhood. He and his companions became the founders of the 
church at Charlefton. Wilson died at Bofton, Auguft 7, 
1667. Shepard used to say of John Wilson, c Methinks I 
hear an Apostle when I hear this man.'* 

About this date also, another, whose name fills much too 
conspicuous a place in the annals of New England to be over- 
looked, became a voluntary exile. This was John Norton, a 
native of Bishop's Stortford, and, like the others already men- 
tioned, a Cambridge man. On leaving the University he 
became curate to Thomas Bendifh, who was Vicar of Stort- 
ford, and also Vicar of Arkesden. While here he became 
acquainted with Jeremiah Dyke, of Epping, by whose miniftry 
he so profitted that he soon became another man. His 
conscience was about this time offended greatly by the c sub- 
scription' that was required of the clergy, and for that reason 
he refused all offers of preferment in the church. He resigned 
his curacy and became chaplain to Sir William Mafham, at 
High Laver. There he married, and seeing but little prospect 
of ever being able to exercise his miniftry in England, he 
resolved to join his friend, Thomas Shepard, and his company, 

* Mather, Hift. N. E. iii. 41. Barkham. The Bishop of Norwich seems to have 
been Harsnett. Ante p. 146. 



N 



1 68 Braintree. 

and go to New England. John Norton became parlor of the 
church at Ipswich. From Ipswich he ultimately removed to 
Bofton. He died in April, 1663. * 

In 1 63 1, Samuel Collins was in trouble. He writes to his 
friend, Dr. Duck, upon the subject a letter which throws not a 
little light upon the state of things that now very generally 
prevailed. The letter is dated June 18. Collins says : — 
' . . . . My lord's displeasure pierces deepe with me. The 
complainte which hath provoked him I willingly and wittingly 
occasioned, to reform the error of sundry in my towne which 
would not be persuaded but that it still lay in me to procure 
them a toleration of their wonted unconformity, which I 

laboured to drawe them from It is no easy matter 

to reduce a numerous congregation into order that hath been 
disorderly these fifty yeares, and that, for the seven yeares 
lafl past, hath bin encouraged in that way by the refractory 
minifters in the county, with whom they have had acquaintance 
in their private meetings and conferences, who have left divers 
schismatical books among them, and during their continuance 
here laboured to make my person and minifhy contemptible 
and odious, because I would not hold conversation with them. 

* Brooks' Lives iii. 429, 421 ; Mather, January, 1632. Newc. ii. 15; i. 897. 

Hist, of N. E. iii. c. To the list given of Dyke, p. Sir W. Masham was created ■ 

Norton's works in Brooks should be added Baronet by James Lin 1621. He was 

' Responsio ad Apollonii Syllogen. Ad elected member for Maldon that year, and 

Componendas Controversias in Anglia.' also in 1625. He became member for 

London, 1648, 8vo. Of which see Art. Colchefter in 1640, and afterwards for 

Apollonii Guil. Biog. Diet. S. D. U. K. Essex. He signed the Proteftation and 

This also appeared in English, under the took the Covenant. He was one of the 

title, *A Consideration of Certain Con- Committee for Essex. He was taken 

troversies at this time agitated in the prisoner by Lord Goring, and exchanged 

Kingdome of England, concerning the for Sir John Aihburnham. He was one 

government of the Church of God.' of the Committee appointed to try Charles 

Fuller says ' Of all the authors I have I., but never sat, and one of the Council 

perused concerning these opinions (Con- of State in 1649. He married Elizabeth, 

gregationalist) none to me was more im- daughter of Sir Francis Barrington, widow 

proving than Mr. John Norton's one of of Sir James Altham, of Mark Hall, 

no less learning than modefty.' Bendish Lutton, and cousin of Oliver Cromwell, 

was inftituted to Arkesden 1617, and to Noble. House of Cromwell ii. 52, 53; 

Stortford Nov. 1st, 161 6. He died before Morant i. 41. 



Braintree, Harwich, 169 

If I had suddenly and haftely fallen upon the whole parte of 
uniformity, I had undone myselfe. . . . For, upon the firft 
notice of alteration, many were resolving to goe to New 
England, and others to remove elsewhere, by whose departure 
the burden of the poor, and charges of the towne, had grown 
insupportable to those that stayed behind. By my moderate 
and slow proceedings I have made the stay of some, and do 
hope to settle their abode with us. . . . My lord of London 
needes not to implore the power of the High Commiffion to 
rule me ; the leaft finger of his owne hand shall suffice. If 
what I have sayd and done will not satisfy, I muff, submitt 
to his honour's censure. ... It makes me add a new 
prayer to my litany, 'From this people, good Lord deliver 
me !'.... I have never thought that government to be 
so sure c vi quod fit quam id quod amicitia adjungatur' 
.... If I may neither prevayle for remission of his lordfhip's 
present intention, nor for removall from hence in convenient 
tyme, I hope I shall ere long be at reft with the Great Bifhopp 

of our souls If anything have fallen from my pen 

that may be offensive, I hereby crave a favorable construction 
thereof, and that it may be concealed from my lord.' * 

Too many of the parochial clergy were anything but slow to 
follow the reckless example of the bifhop. In July, 1631, 
the Mayor and Burgesses of Harwich petitioned the King 
againft William Innes, their minifter, alleging, c That he 
hath set on foot and prosecuted divers suites in several courtes 
againft the greater part of the inhabitants .... whereby 
they are so much distressed and charged, that their trading 
is much decayed, and the town generally impoverifhed . . . .' 
and praying him of c his wonted pietye ' to be pleased to refer 
the hearing .... the said suites unto the Right Honourable 
the Earl of Warwicke, the Earle of Rivers, and to the Right 
Worfhippful Sir Harbottle Grimfton, Sir Thomas Bowes, Sir 
John Barker, and Dr. Alett.' The King granted their requeft, 
and in September, the referees forwarded a long report to the 

* MSS. S. P. O. Domestic Ser. in Laud's handwriting, ' Mr. Collins, his 
Charles I. ccx. 41. The letter is endorsed letters about Conformitye.' 



X 



170 Harwich) Rochford, Copford, Birch. 

Privy Council, in which they entirely acquit the accused 
parties of the charges brought againft them, and reflect 
severely on the conduct of Innes ; at the same time also, 
they enter very largely into the details of the evidence which 
was brought before them. The Council handed their report 
to the High Commission, who returned it with a letter ex- 
pressive of their great displeasure that c private men ' should 
take upon them to express any opinion upon matters already 
decided upon by them. The Council, espoufing the cause 
of the Commiffion, summoned one of the churchwardens 
before them, and also the town clerk, who, it appears, had 
prepared the town petition ; both of them were compelled 
to make an abject submission for having stirred in the matter, 
and the town clerk was removed. The referees also were 
severely reproved, and ordered to acknowledge their fault to 
the High Commission. * 

In 1632 the bifhop was once more busily employed about 
the lecturers. He directed Robert Aylett to inftitute enquiry 
into their present conduct, and on the 12th of June he receives 
the following report from that functionary : f c Rochford. Mr. 
Fenner lectures only in his own parish, and, besides his own 
affirmation of his exact order and observing conformity, I 
had a good report of divers of his neighbour miniiters, both 
for his conformity, learning, and painfulness in his place, and 
his forwardness, both in his teaching and practice, to bring 
others to conformitie. % Copford and Birch Magna. These 
are both Dr. Ram's livings, and Mr. Nicholson is his curate, 



* MSS. State Paper Office, Domeftic f S. P. O. MSS. Domeftic Ser. Ch. I. 

Ser., Charles I. cxxxv. 25 5 cclxxx. J For Fenner. Brooks' Lives ii. 451 ; 

vii. 78, 79; July 31, 1613, cc. lx. 50; Wood, Fasti, i. 223. All his works were 

Jan. 20, 1632, ccxi. 66, 70, 71, 75; publifhed after his death in one vol., by 

Innes, p. 161. The Earl of Warwick was Thos Hill (Wood, Fasti, i. 224), who 

Robert, the second Earl, who was after- was one of the Assembly of Divines, 

wards Admiral to the Long Parliament. Fenner had been presented to the living 

Mor. ii. 102. Earl Rivers was of Chiche. of Rochford, in 1629, by Robert, Earl 

Mor. i. 464. Sir T. Bowes was of Great of Warwick. Newcourt ii. 
Bromly. Mor. i. 442. See a true and 
exact relation, &c, quoted ante p. 157. 



Dedham, Chelmsford, Hedingham, Colchester. 171 

and serves at one when Dr. Ram is at the other, and preacheth 
at each of them a monthly lecture, for which the parifhioners 
add to his meanes. But Dr. Ram hath undertaken for his 
conformity at every lecture, and I have no doubt thereof. * 
Dedham. I have enquired, but cannot find the Common 
Prayer omitted before the lecture, but the minifter of ye place 
often omitting ye surplis and ye time of reading prayer, for 
which I have admonished him, together with Mr. Rogers, ye 
lecturer, f Chelmsford. I openly, in the church of Chelms- 
ford, charged Mr. Michaelson with his seldom coming to 
church till prayers was ended, and, in your lordfhip's name, 
charged the churchwardens, if he continued such omissions, 
to present him, dismissing him then with this admonition. % 
Caftle Hedingham. Mr. Brewer, ye minifter of ye place, 
three lectures weekly. I sent for the churchwardens, who 
made me this answer: 'That ye parish is great and ye living 
small, and that they allow £10 a year to their minifter, who 
never omits to read prayer before ye lecture, and seldom 
omitteth to wear the surplis.' I admonifhed both him and ye 
churchwardens that they should not, at any time, omit the 
surplis, and they promised to observe my admonition. || St. 
Leonard's and St. James's, Colchefter. These only hold a 
monthly lecture before the Communion, and always read ye 
Litany and other prayers before their sermons, in their surplis, 
of which I dare most confidently teftify in respect of that. I 
have sent divers minifters to see, and they have certified me as 
I have said.' § With reference to Colchefter, Aylett adds, 
under the head of 'Matters presently to be enquired of and 
reformed : ' there are two preachers preach on Sundays in the 

* Robert Ram. He died in 1638. sented by James I. He resigned in 1640. 

f John Rogers. Ante. The minis- The then rector of St. James's was 

ter appears to have been Thos. Cottesford. Samuel Ottaway, who died in 1642, and 

1 8th Oct., 1 61 5 — 2nd July, 1641. N. was succeeded by John White, of whom 

ii. 210. see Infra. The Town Lecturer was 

% Michaelson. Ante. Richard Maden, for the second time. He 

|| Brewer. Infra. had now qualified himself under Laud's 

§ The then rector of St. Leonard's new regulations by accepting the vicarage 

was Thomas Hawes, who had been pre- of St. Peter's. 



172 Finchingfield^ Felsted, Afanningtree^ Wether sfield. 

afternoon, at several hours, by which catechizing is little 
frequented ; if they be ordered to preach both at the same hour 
that offence will be taken away. Aylett also reports of 
Finchingfield, Felfted, Manningtree, Wethersfield, Saffron 
Walden, and Much Waltham. Of Finchingfield he writes, 
c Mr. Marshall, parson there, only preacheth on the holy days, 
and is in all very conformable.'* Of Felfted, 'Mr. Wharton, 
vicar there, keeps no certain lecture, but sometimes weekly, 
and sometimes every fortnight, as he pleaseth to give notice at 
church. His singularity herein is to be observed. His church- 
wardens return to us that prayers are read before the lecture in 
the surplice ; but I am informed he comes seldom to church on 
Sundays until prayers be ended, which gives occasion to the 
people lightly to efteem of public prayers.' f Of Manningtree, 
c Mr. Witham, parson of Misley, preacheth weekly in a 
Chapel of Ease .... belonging to Misley. Mr. Witham 
is conformable, but hath no surplis at his chapel. They allege 
this excuse : that the chapel is not yet consecrated, but only 
allowed for prayers and preaching by a Faculty from my Lord's 
grace, and therefore no surplis is there (as they say they could) 
to be used. They desire much to have it consecrated, and 
pretend they desire your lordshipp would be pleased to that 
effect to depute my Lord Bishopp of Norwich on his way to 
or from London.' % Of Wethersfield, 'There was no lecturer 
when I did enquire, but all conformably practised ; yet since, I 
am credibly informed that Mr. Atwood, a great Nonconformist, 
is there — indeed a lecturer admitted under colour of being 
curate. He was of Styfted, in Dr, Barkham's jurisdiction, 
where he was famous for conventicles and unconformity, and 
should have been articled against in the High Commission; 
but he left Styfted, and is commended to Wethersfleld, but by 
whose certificate it would be enquired.' || Of Walden, 'Mr. 

* Stephen Marshall. Memorials. 422; i. 463. The Bifhop of Norwich 

f Wharton. Ante p. 1 54. was the notorious Wren. 

\ Thomas Witham, 12th Dec, 16 10. | The then vicar of Wethersfield. 

He afterwards (1643) became rector of p. 154. 

St. Mary's, Walworth, London. N. ii. 



Saffron Walden, Great Waltham, Colchester. 173 

Burdett is admitted curate, but only, as I conceive, for a 
colour; for he is, in deed and practice, a lecturer not (to) be 
suffered, except he duly and conformably reads and serves the 
cure.' And of Great Waltham, 'There is a learned and grave 
man, come from Oxford, vicar; and a young hott fellow, one 
Fuller, lecturer, who I fear will pull down fafter than the 
builder can build up in conformity.'* 

In the month of September Aylett sends another report to 
Laud. The year before a Commission, under the Great Seal, 
had been issued for the repair of St. Paul's Cathedral, and 
authorizing the Commissioners to collect voluntary subscrip- 
tions for that purpose. Aylett speaks discouragingly of the 
prospects of the collection. 'The people of Colchefter,' he 
says, 'like those of Ephesus, their Diana is their liberty, and 
none but the Towne Clerk can appease their tumult;' and 
adds that, ' in all the diocese about Chelmsford and Dunmow 
the officials visit this year, .... and compell the several 
parifhes to build and repair their own churches, which is 
likely to hinder the Cathedral.' f 

Towards the close of the year 1632, Laud accomplifhed a 
purpose, which he had long conceived, for the more effectual 
suppression of the lecturers. In 1624 a plan had been set on 
foot for the purchase of such lay impropriations as might offer 
themselves, and applying the revenues to the support of 
minifters in deftitute parts of the country. The scheme 
proved eminently successful. The wealthy among the 
Puritans espoused it eagerly; large funds were collected; and 
the purchased impropriations were veiled in Feoffees. On 
the plea that these appointments amounted to an evasion of the 
Royal Prerogative, Laud caused an action to be brought against 
the Feoffees in the Exchequer, and the result was that the funds 
were confiscated, and the Feoffees were sentenced to banifh- 
ment. % During this year also several beneficed clergymen were 

* The vicar was Sam. Noell, who J Laud's Diary, 47, 68 ; Rufhworth ii. 

was admitted 18th Nov., 1630. See 150, 152; Sibbe's Works, ed. 1862, i. 

Memorials. lxxiv. 

f S. P. O. Dom. Ser. Ch. I. 



174 Terling) Stondon Massey, Writtle, Colchester, 

deprived, among them Thomas Weld, of Terling, and Na- 
thaniel Ward, of Stondon Massey, of whom we shall have 
occasion to speak hereafter. * 

Laud was now nearing the height of his ambition. On 
the 4th of Auguft, 1633, George Abbott, Archbifhop of 
Canterbury, died. That day Laud makes entry in his diary : 
c There came one to me, that vowed ability to perform it, and 
offered me to be a cardinal.' On the 6th he received his 
appointment as Abbott's successor. Eleven days after he 
has another entry in his diary : c I had a serious offer made 
me to be a cardinal ; I was then absent from the Court, but 
so soon as I came thither .... I acquainted his Majefty 
with it, but my answer was, that somewhat dwelt within 
me which would not suffer that till Rome was other than 
it was.' On the 19th of September, he was translated to 
Lambeth. About this time a little book entitled c Elenchus 
religiouis Papifticae c et Flagellum Pontificis Episcoporum 
Latialium :' ' a confutation of Popery, and a scourge for 
the Pope and the Latin Bifhops — which had been recently 
publifhed in Holland — was freely circulated in the country. 
The author was John Baftwick, a native of Writtle, where 
he was born in the year 1593. At the age of 24, Baftwick 
entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, but soon left and 
went to Padua, where he studied medicine, and took his degree 
of doctor in that faculty. About 1623 he returned to England, 
and settled at Colchefter as a practitioner. Morant describes 
his dwelling as the Red House in Eld Lane, near the Baptift 
Meeting House. This book, which was an answer to one 
Short, a papift, and expressly disclaimed anything c againft 
such bifhops as acknowledged their authority from kings and 
emperors,' was confidered by Laud as an attack upon the 
Englifh prelates. A pursuivant was therefore sent from the 
High Commission Court to the Red House, where, not finding 
Baftwick, assifted by the then Bailiffs of Colchefter, Thomas 
Wade and John Langley, together with the constables, he 

* Memorials. 



Colchester. 175 

ransacked the premises, broke open Baftwick's study, and 
carried away his books and papers. Soon after this Bastwick 
was apprehended, and on the 14th of February, 1634, he was 
' fined ^1000 to the King, excommunicated, debarred to practice 
physic, his book ordered to be burnt, and himself sentenced to 
pay cofts of the suit, and to be imprisoned until he made a 
recantation of his opinions.' He was committed to the Gate 
House, where he remained two years. During this interval he 
wrote two other books, the one entitled 'Apologeticus ad 
presules Anglicanos,' an apology for himself, addrefTed to the 
bifhops -, and the other 'The Litany.'* This involved him 
in further trouble. Accordingly he was indicted in the Star 
Chamber on the nth of March, 1637, at the same time with 
Henry Burton and William Prynne, for c writing and pub- 
lifhing seditious, schismatical, and libellous books againfr. the 
hierarchy of the church.' Bastwick's counsel refusing to sign 
his answer to these charges — which declared, among other 
things, that ' the Prelates are invaders of the King's pre- 
rogative royal, contemners and despisers of the Holy Scriptures, 
advancers of popery, superftition, idolatry, and profaneness ;' 
also that c they abuse the King's authority to the oppression 
of his loyalest subjects, and therein exercise great cruelty, 
tyranny, and injuftice ;' and that ' in the execution of these 
impious performances they show neither wit, honesty, nor 
temperance ' — he petitioned that according to ancient pre- 
cedent he might be allowed to put it in with only his own 
signature. This, however, was refused him, and the absence 
of the answer was treated by the Court as a confession of 
guilt. He and his companions were now condemned ' in a 
fine of £5000 each, to stand in the pillory in the Palace Yard, 
at Westminster, and there to lose their ears.' They were 
also sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in three remote 
places of the kingdom. In the pillory, Bastwick made a 

* The Litany was ' secretly printed ' in The entire is reprinted, Somer's Tracts v. 

four parts : the first of which was con- See Retrosp. Review x. 191 — 198. 

tained in 'two letters to Mr. AquilaWykes, Lowndes' Bibl. Man. ed. Bohn i. 127. 
Keeper of the Gate House, his good angel.' 



176 Colchester. 

fervent appeal to the affembled crowd : c There are many 
that are this day spectators of our standing here as delinquents, 
yet am I not conscious to myself wherein I have committed 
the lean: trespasse to take this outward shame, either against 
my God or my king. . . . But be ve not deterred by their 
power, neither be affrighted at our sufferings ; let none de- 
termine to turn from the ways of the Lord, but go on, fight 
courageously .... I know there be manv here who have 
set many days apart for our behalf .... and thev have sent 
up strong prayers to heaven for us ; we feel the strength and 
benefit of them at this time. ... So far am I from base 
fear, or caring for anything that thev can do or caft upon me, 
that had I as much blood as would swell the Thames, I 
would shed it even 7 drop in this cause . . . . ; had I as many 
lives as I have hairs in mv head, or drops of blood in my 
veins, I would give them all up for this cause.' Bastwick 
was shortly sent to Launcefton Caitle, in Cornwall, and from 
thence to St. Mary's Caitle, in Scillv Island. His imprison- 
ment terminated in 1640, when he was summoned to appear 
before the Parliament. He landed at Dover on the 4th of 
December. ' He had his charges borne all the way to London, 
was loaded with presents, and received everywhere by vaft 
numbers of people with wonderful acclamations of jov, 
particularly before he came to Southwark ; he was met by 
great crowds of Londoners, with boughs and flowers in their 
hands, and conducted by them to his lodgings in the city.' 
On the 24th of February, the House of Commons resolved 
that the proceedings against him were illegal, unjust, and 
againit the liberty of the subject ; his sentence also was 
reversed, and ^5000 awarded him out of the estates of Laud, 
the High Commission, and those lords who had voted againit 
him in the Star Chamber. It does not appear, however, that 
Baftwick ever received the money. After his release he re- 
turned to Colchester, where he died. * 

* Ruftiworth's Collections iv. So, et Discover.- of the Prelate's Tyranny,' 1 641. 
Mor. Col. 121 ; Kippis, Biog. Britannica 'The Utter Routing the whole Armv of 
i. 680. Baftwick also published 'New Independents and Sectaries.' Lond. 1646, 



Laud's Instructions. 177 

On the very day of Laud's translation to Lambeth, Charles 
iiTued the ' considerations,' which Laud had submitted to him 
in 1629, in the form of c inftruc~r.ions.'"* At the same time the 
King and the Archbifhop iflued letters on the subject of 
c titles,' and within six weeks these letters were followed by 
an c Order in Council,' which proved to be the decifion which 
had been arrived at for all the parifhes in the country. This 
order was on the subject of placing the communion table. 
Hitherto the practice had been to place it, at the time of the 
adminiftration of the sacrament, in such a central situation as 
might be most convenient. This Laud now took upon him 
to alter. The order declared that c for so much as concerns 
the liberty of the common prayer book or canon for placing the 
communion table . . . with most convenience, that liberty is 
not so to be underftood as if it were ever left to the discretion 
of the parish, much less to the particular fancy of any 
humorous person, but to the judgment of the ordinary, to 
whose place and function it doth properly belong to give direc- 
tion on that point.' This ' order' was soon followed by certain 
c injunctions,' which required not only that the table l should 
always stand close under the east wall of the chancel, the ends 
thereof north and south,' . . . but also that c a rail be made 
around it.' And before long it came to be required by autho- 
rity that ; all the communicants come up severally, and kneel 
before the rail to receive the holy communion.' All this was 
done without law, contrary to law, and in direct opposition to 
the known habits and strong convictions of the great majority 
of the people of England, f There had also recently come 
forth in print c articles' to be enquired of by the churchwardens 
and sworn men within the diocese of Winchelter, which, as 

* Cardwell, Doc. An. ii. 230. allowing them to stand in the centre of 

f Cardwell, Doc. Ann. ii. 237, 251, the chancel. Perry, Hist, of Church of 

13. Bishop Williams hit upon a clever England i. 533. This is the present posi- 

plan for satisfying the letter of the injunc- tion of the table in the church of St. 

tion, and at the same time opposing its Osyth. The same thing was to be ob 

spirit, by recommending that the tables served in the church at Epping. 
be railed round instead of railed oft", still 



178 NeaP s Articles. 

they were iffued by Laud's friend, Walter Neal, may be 
usefully referred to as showing the lengths to which the prelates 
now went in their oppreffion of the Nonconformists of the 
country generally. By these articles the churchwardens were 
required, on oath, to present all and every person within their 
several parimes who had committed any offence, or ' omitted 
any part of duty,' and, among other things, were to take notice 
' whether the minifter hath admitted to the communion any 
notorious offenders or schismatics contrary to the 26th canon. 
.... whether strangers of any other parifhes do come often 
and commonly to their church from their own parish church 

contrary to the 28th canon whether doth the minifter 

use to sign the children with the sign of the cross when they 
are baptized ? ' and ' whether doth the minifter, every six months, 
denounce in the parish all such as do persevere in the sentence 
of excommunication, not seeking to be absolved ; or hath ad- 
mitted any excommunicated person into the church without 
certificate of absolution.'"* It needs but a glance at such 
measures to see that the machinery of oppreftion was now well 
nigh complete, and that with such a hand as that of Laud to 
guide it the consequences shortly must become intolerable. 

In October Charles iffued a ' declaration to his subjects 
concerning lawful sports to be used.' f This was a re-ena£tment 
of his father's notorious c Book of Sports.' The declaration 
was followed by a letter from Laud, commanding all the 
bifhops to see that the printed book which contained it was 
duly purchased and used in their several parishes. This was 
little else than a wilful irritation of the more earnest among the 
minifters and the more godly among the people, into such open 
disobedience as might render them plausibly amenable to the 
usurped authority of the Ecclefiastical Court, and so aid in the 
crusade which had been openly proclaimed against evangelical 
godliness. Such proceedings on the part of Laud, the hierarchy 
and the court, could but awaken new anxieties and excite fresh 
disaffection. Multitudes accordingly continued to abandon the 

* Rushworth ii. 186, 187. -f- Cardwell, Doc. Ann. 240, 246. 



Dedham, Boxford^ Colchester. 179 

country in despair. Among others who now contemplated 
voluntary exile was John Sherman, of Dedham, who left the 
next year following, and became afTociated with a friend of his, 
George Philips, whose acquaintance he had made at Cambridge, 
Boxford, and also in his native place, at Water-town, N. 
England. John Sherman died in 1685.* 

By the December of this year (1634) Laud had found a 
new class of victims in the Dutch and Walloon churches, 
several of which had long more or less flourifhed both in 
London and also in the provinces. There was a Dutch con- 
gregation at Colchefter. These churches had been settled in 
England as early as the reign of Edward VI. Even Mary 
does not appear to have interfered with them; Elizabeth had 
shown them great favour; and Bancroft, in his warmest zeal 
for uniformity, had never gone further than to require that they 
should confine themselves to their own communities. But 
Laud was resolved upon their ultimate extinction. Accord- 
ingly, in his visitation he had the minifters and elders of 
these churches summoned to appear before his vicar-general, 
who had instructions to require — 1 1. That all the natives of the 
.... congregations should repair to their severall parish 
churches where they inhabited to hear divine service and 
sermons, and perform all duties and payments required in that 
behalf. II. That the minifters and all other .... which 
were not natives or born subjects to the King's Majefty, or 
any other strangers that should come over to them while they 
remained strangers, might use their own discipline as formerly 
they had done, yet it was thought fit that the English Liturgy 
should be translated into French and Dutch for the better 
settling of their children to the English government.' The 
minifters and elders of these churches, who but too clearly 
saw the meaning of this interference, petitioned and expos- 
tulated, but in vain. The only answer they received was, 
' That His Majefty was resolved these inftructions should 
hold ... to the end, the aliens might the better look to the 

* Brooks' Lives ii. 493 ; iii. 483 j Mather, Hift. N. E. iii. 162, 165. 

N 2 



180 Colchester. 

education of their children, and that their several congregations 
might not be too much lessened at once; but that all of the 
second descent . . . should resort to their several parifhes,' 
and c thus,' says the archbifhop, ' I have given you answer . . . 
and I doubt not . . . but yourselves or your pofterity at least 
shall have cause to thank both the State and the Church for the 
care taken of you ; but if you refuse (as you have no cause to 
do, and I hope you will not), I shall then proceed ... so 
hoping the best of yourselves and your obedience, I leave you 
to the grace of God.' * 

Disturbances soon arose about the Order in Council upon 
the subject of the rails, and among other places, in Col- 
chefter. Aylett issued a command, under the authority 
of Laud, to James Wheeler, churchwarden of the parish of 
St. Botolph's, c to rail in the communion table, which he 
refused to do unless Dr. Aylett would save him harmless.' 
This was in 1635. Wheeler was, therefore, twice excom- 
municated ; his house was broken up, and he himself was 
cast into prison, where he remained for three years. At 
length, however, he escaped; whereupon the Mayor of the 
Town, Robert Buxton, without warrant, then caused the poor 
man's house to be ransacked in search of him, and his wife 
and two children to be committed and kept in cuftody for 
three days and three nights, nor were they then to be released 
without payment of heavy fees. Wheeler died abroad, leaving 
his wife and children altogether ruined. When there was 
Parliament again, the widow petitioned for redress, and she 
obtained it. The decision of the House of Lords was, c That 
in regard there is no law to warrant or compel the railing in of 
the communion table, and in respect of the great loss and 
damage sustained by Wheeler, his wife, and children, by these 
hard and unjust dealings, the Lords' Committee thought fit that 
^300 should be paid to the petitioner.' It was also properly 

* Rushworth ii. 272 ; Strype, Cran- St. Giles', and then of All Saints' 

mer 3365 Grindal 61 ; Annals i. i. 172; Church 5 and at laft had a chapel of 

iv. 538. The Dutch congregation at their own. Morant, Col. 75 — 79. 
Colchefter for some time had the use of 



Little Chishill. 181 

decided that the payment of this money should fall on the 
officials who had acted thus illegally. Of the ^300 Aylett 
and Buxton had each to pay £100 > * 

But Laud's hands were not yet full enough. In 1637 he 
also attacked the press in a decree which he procured to be 
made in the Star Chamber, armed with which he went so far 
as to interdict the printing of Fox's Book of Martyrs, some of 
Andrew Willett' s writings, and also the 'Practice of Piety.' 
Of this last we have heard before, f and Fox is sufficiently 
known to all. Willett was Fuller's 'Andrew Willett, of 
admirable induftry.' He was rector of Little Chishill for the 
last year of his life, and died in 1621. His writings were 
chiefly directed against the papist heresy. He wrote also 
against bowing at the name of Jesus. J 

These proceedings were speedily followed by a ' Royal Letter 
to the High Commission to proceed against such as refuse to 
take the oath.' This was the ex-officio oath which had been 
the fruitful source of so much suffering in the reign of 
Elizabeth. Ever since the noble decision of Sir Edward 
Coke in the King's Bench, in 1616, this illegal and uncon- 
stitutional inflrument of oppression had laid in abeyance. It 
was now revived, the King enacting that ' if any person or 
persons . . . shall either refuse to take such oath, ... or 
not make a full and plain answer to the articles or interroga- 
tions to them objected, (he) shall be held as confessed and 

* Journals of the House of Lords iv. mentarius in Epistolam Judae, 16035 

l S^y I 57> I S^i J 86> 2035 v. 481; vi. Hexapla in Genesin, 1608, fol. 5 Hexapla 

128, 382. Buxton was Mayor in 1635, in Exodum, 1608, fol.; De Gratia Generi 

and also in 1646. Morant MSS. Col. Humano in primo Parenti collata, de 

Museum. He was buried in St. Nicholas lapsu Adami, Peccato Originali, 1600 ; 

Church. <R. B. Pharmacapola,'' 1655. Hexapla or a Sixfold Commentary on 

f Ante. Daniel, 1 610, fol. ; Hexapla on the Epistle 

I Newcourt ii. 151. He wrote Tet- to the Romans, 161 1; An Exposition 

raftylon Papismi, 1599, 4to. ; Synopsis upon the First and Second Books of 

Papismi, 1600 — republifhed by Dr. Cum- Samuel, 1614; Hexapla on Leviticus; 

ming, 10 vols. 8vo. 1852; Hexapla in Hexapla on Ps. xxii. ; and other treatises. 

Genesin, 1608, fol.; Hexapla in Exodum, Brooks' Lives ii. 288; Wood, Ath. Ox. 

1608, fol. j A Catholicon against the i. 409; Strype, Whitgift ii. 228, 438, 

Pseudo Catholick, 1602, 8vo. ; Com- 439. 



l82 



Emigration Forbidde 



convicted legally of all those articles and matters to which he 
refuseth to be sworn.' * This atrocious document was issued 
the 4th of February, 1637. 

The next year following, 1638, Laud procured a decree to 
be passed in the Star Chamber, to the effect c that His Majesty 
and the Board taking into consideration the frequent resort to 
New England of divers persons ill-affecT:ed to the religion 
eftablifhed in the Church of England, did think fit and order 
that Mr. Attorney-General shall forthwith draw up a pro- 
clamation .... to*prohibit all to send forth any ship with 
passengers for New England, till they first obtained special 
license on that behalf.' This was in April, and not content 
with this, in August, another similar decree was obtained from 
the same court, ' that whereas it is observed that such ministers 
who are inconformable to the discipline and ceremonies of the 
church .... do frequently transport themselves to the 
Summer Islands, and other his Majesty's plantations abroad, 
the Lord Admiral is required to take strict order that no 
clergymen be from henceforth suffered to go over .... 
but only such as shall have approbation in that behalf from 
. . . . the Lord Archbifhop of Canterbury .... or the 
Bifhop of London,' and further, that the Lord Admiral was 
to c cause all that had already gone forth without such ap- 
probation forthwith to be remanded back.' f 

All this was, of course, preparatory to further action against 
Nonconformists ; and c whereunto the thing had grown,' had 
not the unwelcome prospect of a Parliament restrained the 
recklessness of the archbifhop, it is now impossible to say. 
But his cup was nearly full ; the day of reckoning was at hand. 
The rafh and dangerous experiment of governing by ' procla- 
mation ' had completely failed, and Charles was compelled 
to fall back upon the constitution. The Scots were already 
in open rebellion, and in order to obtain the means for their sup- 
preffion, the King must bow to the supremacy of Englifh law. 



* Cardwell, Doc. Ann. ii. 268. 



f Rufhworth ii. 718, 720. 



CHAPTER VII. 

1640. 



CHARLES' fourth Parliament was summoned to assemble 
on the 13th of April, 1640. As might have been 
expected, the elections took place under great excitement. 
The following account is given of the election for this county 
by Mr. Nevil, of Creffing Temple, "* who seems to have been 
the rejected candidate, in a paper addressed to the Secretary of 
State. 'These things were observed about our election of 
knights for the shire of Essex : — I. Before the election the 
Earl of Warwick made good use of his lord-lieutenancy, in 
sending letters out to the captains of the Trainbands, who, 
having power to charge the people with arms, durft not offend, 
which brought many to his side. II. Sir Thomas Barrington 
and Sir Harbottle Grimfton, that morning the election was 
made, went from their own lodging to the Lord of Warwick's 
lodging, and whilst they were there, thousands of people 
shouting, a man drew a sword and flourifhed it about his head, 
in great glory before his window. III. It was said amongft 
the people that if Nevil had the day, they would tear the 
government to pieces, and there was a man apprehended for 
saying the same words, and added, that there were a hundred 
more of his mind. IV. For the man that was apprehended, bail 
was taken by the Earl of Warwick ; Sir Cranmer Harris and 
Captain Bernard being his bayl, to his great popular glory ; my 
Lord Maynard intreating Sir Henry Mildmay, of Chelmsford, 
to take bail, being the affront was offered to my Lord of 
Carlisle, my Lord Maynard, and the reft of the gentry, in 

* Henry Nevil, alias Smyth. Mor. ii. 114 



184 Election for Essex. 

these threatening speeches. V. Mr. Rogers, of Weather- 
field, being a silenced minifter, coming into the Sessions' 
House, they made room for him to sit down, and give him ease 
by my Lord of Warwick's command. VI. Those minifters 
who gave their voices for my Lord of Warwick, as Mr. 
Marihall and others, preached often out of their own parishes 
before the election. VII. Our corporations of Essex, con- 
sifting moftly of Puritans, and having had their voices in 
electing their own burgesses, and then to care to elect knights 
is more than the greatest lord of England hath in their 
burroughs ; the multiplicity of the people are mean conditioned 
and moft factious, and few subsidy-men, and therefore no way 
concerned in the election. VIII. A man having but forty 
shillings a year freehold hath as great a voice in the election 
as any, and yet this man is never a subsidv-man, and when 
the statute was made forty shillings was then twenty pounds 
in value now. And it were a great quiet to the State if it 
were reduced to that, and it would save the minifters a great 
deal of pains in preaching from their own churches. ' * 

The members now elected in Essex were : for the county, 
Sir Francis Barrington and Sir Harbottle Grimston ; for 
Colchefter, Sir W. Mafham and Harbottle Grimftone ; for 
Maldon, Sir Henry Mildmay and John Porter ; and for 
Harwich, Sir Thomas Cheke and Sir John Jacobs. f 



* Nalson's Collection i. 279, 280. James I., in 1620. Mor. ii. 430. Sir 

Sir T. Barrington was the son of Sir Henry Mildmay, probably of Graces, 

Francis, and the cousin of Oliver Crom- Little Baddow. He married the sifter of 

well. He had been member for Newton Sir Arthur Harris. Mor. ii. 25. Lord 

in James' three laft Parliaments, and also Carlisle was James, the second earl, then 

previously sat for Essex. He died in seated at Waltham Holy Cross. Mor. i. 

1644. Sir Cranmer Harris was the son 44, Daniel Rogers, ante. 
of Sir Arthur, of Cricksea, and then a f Harbottle Grimftone was the second 

young man of about 30. Mor. 363. son of Sir Harbottle. He was born at 

Captain Bernard was probably John, of Bradfield Hall, about 1594, studied at 

Depden Grange. Mor. ii. 562. Lord Lincoln's Inn, and soon became eminent 

Maynard was the firft Englifh peer of as a lawyer. He married a niece of Sir 

that title, created by Charles I. in 1627, Geo. Croke, the Judge. He was now 

having been previously created Baron Recorder of Colchefter, and had recently 

Maynard, of Wicklow, in Ireland, by purchased the Crouched Friars, where he 



South Weald, Willingate, Lambourne. 185 

Immediately after Parliament was opened the House of 
Commons fell more earneftly than ever upon the discussion 
of 'grievances.' On the 18th, Harbottle Grimftone, having 
presented a petition from the county of Essex on the subject, 
spoke at considerable length, saying, c The diseases and dis- 
tempers that now are in our bodies politic are grown to that 
height that they pray for and demand a cure ; ' and concluding 
with the ominous words, • c we cannot complain we want 
good laws, for the wit of man cannot invent better than are 
already made; there want only some examples that such as 
have been the authors and causes of all our miseries and 
diffractions in Church and Commonwealth, contrary to these 
good laws, might be treacle to expel the poison of mischief 
out of others.' Charles, however, had still as little inclination 
to go into the subject of grievances as he had before. He 
therefore suddenly dissolved the Parliament, after it had sat for 
only three weeks, on the 5th of May. 

Simultaneously with the Parliament, Convocation also had 
assembled. Two of the members were beneficed in Essex — 
Samuel Baker, who had just been presented by Juxon, Bifhop 
of London, to the vicarage of South Weald, and Thomas 
Winiffe, rector of Willingale Doe, and also rector of Lam- 
bourne. * There was also a third member of this Convocation 



lived. In 1642 he was Lieutenant for * A Christian New Year's Gift, or Ex- 
Essex. On the death of Charles he left hortation to the chief duties of a Chriftian, 
the country, but returned again. After written in Latin by H. G., tranflated for 
having been one of the representatives the more public profit ;' Cambridge, 1644, 
for Essex, in 1656, he joined in a remon- i6mo. Reports of Sir Geo. Croke, 
strance with Cromwell, in 1659, but 1669. fol. Porter was now Recorder of 
afterwards became one of his Council of Maldon. Sir John Jacobs was of Stanfted 
State. He was very active in promoting Hall, Halfted. He was one of the 
the reftoration, and was well rewarded for farmers of the King's Cuftoms. Sir 
it. He died Dec. 13, 1683, and was John was knighted in 1633. He sur- 
buried in St. Michaelis, St. Alban's. vived the reftoration, was created a baronet 
Biographia Britannica, Mor. Colchefter, in 1664 by Charles II., and died in 1666. 
109. He publifhed, ' Strena Chriftiana Mor. ii. 256. 

sine Hortatiuncula ad preecipuas virtutum * Newcourt ii. 6465 i. 214, 4545 

aftus exteriores;' Lond. 1644, which Memorials; Nalson's Collections i. 352 ; 

was afterwards printed under the title of Baker, Newcourt ii. 646; i. 215; infra. 



t86 Great Dunmow^ Tfie New Canons. 

who had but recently resigned the vicarage of Great Dunmow, 
and who, two years afterwards, became rector of Great Tay; 
this was Thomas Wykes, then rector of St. Botolph's, 
Bifhopsgate. * Convocation continued to sit until the 25th 
of May. During this interval it took upon itself to pass 
seventeen new ' Conftitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical,' 
which had been prepared by a committee, consisting of 
fourteen members, among whom -were Thomas Winiffe, and 
Gilbert Sheldon, who sat in the Convocation as Procurator for 
the Chapter of Gloucefter. f 

The first of these canons ordained : c That ever} 7 parson . . . 
or preacher, upon some Sunday in even 7 quarter of the year, 
shall audibly read' certain explanations there given of the 
Regal Power, among which were these : ' The most high and 
sacred order of kings is of divine right. . . . The power to call 
and dissolve councils, both national and provincial, is (the) 
. . . king's . . . for subjects to bear arms against their king . 
upon any pretence whatever, is ... to resist the powers which 
are ordained of God, and ... St. Paul tells them plainly, they 
shall receive to themselves damnation;' and 'that . . . aid and 
subsidy, and all manner of necessary . . . supply be respectively 
due to kings from their subjects by the law of God.' The fifth 
decreed — 'That because there are sprung up among us a sect 
of factious people, despisers and depravers of the Book of 
Common Prayer, who do not, according to the law, resort to their 
parish church or chappel to joyn in the public prayers, . . 
contenting themselves with the hearing of sermons only, 
thinking thereby to avoid the penalties due to such as wholly 
absent themselves from the church, . . . the church or chappel 
warden . . . shall be careful to enquire out all such,' and that 
'they shall be excommunicated.' The seventh declared- 
'That the communion table should be placed in the parish 



Memorials. Winiffe now also held the 
Prebend of Mora, and was Dean of St. 
Paul's. He was afterwards Bifhop of 
Lincoln. He died at Lambourne in 1654, 
and was buried there. Newc. i. 52. 



# Wykes. He was also Rector of 
Finchley, in Middlesex, and Precentor of 
St. Paul's. Newc. ii. 102. 

f Nalson's Collections i. 364. 



The ' Et Caetera' Oath. 187 

churches where and as it already had been in most cathedrals,' 
and that ' the people should do reverence and obeisance both at 
their coming in and going out of the churches.' The eighth 
required — 'That all preachers should . . . instruct the people 
. . . that the rights and ceremonies now eftablifhed in the 
Church of England are . . . comm^pdable . . . and if any 
preacher shall refuse or neglect ... let him be suspended by 
his ordinary.' But the crowning act of this Convocation was 
the new oath, which it required by the sixth canon. It was to 
the following effect : C I, A. B., do swear that I do approve the 
doctrine and discipline or government eftablifhed in the 
Church of England, as containing all things necessary to 
salvation; and that I will not ever give my consent to alter 
the government of this church, by archbifhops, bifhops, deans, 
and archdeacons, ET CAETERA, and as by right it ought 
to stand.' And, on the subject of this novel oath, the canon 
prescribed : c If any ecclesiaftical person shall refuse to take 
this oath, the bifhop shall give him a month's time to inform 
himself, and at the month's end, if he refuse to take it, he shall 
be suspended ab. officio, and have a second month granted, and 
if he then refuse to take it, he shall be suspended ab. officio et 
beneficio, and have a third month granted him . . . but (then) 
if he refuse, he shall by the bifhop be deprived ;' and also, 
'That it should be taken by all Masters of Arts (the sons of 
noblemen excepted); all graduates in Divinity, Law, or Physic; 
all practitioners of medicine, ecclesiaftical officials, all school- 
mafters, and all candidates for ordination.' The King having 
given his assent to these illegal canons, they were immediately 
publifhed, with a Declaration, in which Charles required 'all 
that exercise ecclesiaftical jurisdiction to see them duly 
observed, not sparing to execute the penalties . . . upon any 
that shall break or wilfully neglect the same.' * 

The sudden diflblution of the Parliament, and the ilTue of 
these canons by the King, contributed not a little to embitter 

* Nalson's Collection i. 542, 562. them by His Majestie's Authority, under 
Conftitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical . . the Great Seal of England. Lond. 1640, 
now publifhed for the due observance of 4to. 



Halsted. 



the excitement which by this time greatly prevailed throughout 
the country, and disorders took place ; among other parts here 
in Effex. On the 28th of October, one John Pool, who is 
described as an c excommunicated person,' went into the church 
at Halsted in the time of service, and taking William Till, the 
clerk, by the throat, c compelled him to go into the vestry, and 
give up the surplice and the hood to him and others who were 
with him.' These Pool and his companions tore in pieces. 
At the same time one Robert Haward, entering the church, 
rushed up to the desk where Mr. Carter, the curate, was 
reading the baptismal service at the font, struck the prayer 
book out of his hand, and, with several others, kicked it about, 
saying c it was a popish book.' Of this John Etheridge, the 
then vicar, very justly complained to the magistrates, and war- 
rants were iffued for the apprehenfion of the offenders. But 
they were no sooner taken into cuftody than they were rescued 
by the people. There were also implicated in this outrage, 
Grace, the wife of John Pool ; Barbary, the wife of William 
Rogers ; John Sach, and Mary, his wife ; Peter Redall, and 
William Rich. The matter was ultimately brought before the 
House of Lords, when it was found that all the offenders, with 
the exception of the Pools, Haward and Sach, had fled. These 
were committed to the Fleet. Grace Pool was admitted as 
evidence againft the others, who, being ' poor and silly men,' 
were sentenced to c make public submiffion for their foul and 
contemptuous offence in the church of Halsted, before the 
congregation, and in the presence of the next two justices of 
the peace ; ' and, at the same time, to ' ask forgiveness of the 
curate and the clerk for that which they had done.' This 
sentence was passed on the 19th of December, and that day 
the Lords placed a resolution on their records to the effect : 
' That this House doth deeply condemn the fact to be an 
offence of a very high nature ; and that, if any person what- 
soever shall hereafter dare presume to commit the like offence, 
he shall be severely and exemplarily punished.' * 



* Journals of the House of Lords, vol. 
iv. 100, 107, 109, 113, 183. Etheridge 
resigned shortly after this. He was also 



vicar of Fairsted, which also he resigned 
before Dec, 1643. Newc. ii. 279, 249. 



Essex Elections. 189 

The experiment of governing without a Parliament having 
again failed, and c the Scots' rebellion ' having now become 
still more serious, Charles summoned another Parliament, 
for the 3rd of November. The Essex members now elected 
were : for the county, Robert Lord Rich, eldeft son of Robert 
Earl of Warwick, and Sir William Mafham ; for Colchefter, 
Sir Thomas Barrington and Harbottle Grimston ; for Maldon, 
Sir Henry Mildmay and Sir John Clotworthy ; and for 
Harwich, Sir Thomas Cheke and Sir Harbottle Grimston. 
The new Parliament was even more decided on the subject 
of grievances than the former ones had been. Harbottle 
Grimston, speaking at considerable length, said : — c Mr. 
Speaker, there hath been since the last Parliament a synod, 
and in that synod a new oath hath been .... enjoined. . . . 
They might as well have made a new law .... not being 
establifhed by Act of Parliament, and in point of mischief, 
the safety of the Commonwealth, and the freedom and liberties 
of the subject, are more concerned in the doing of the one 
than if they had done the other. . . . Mr. Speaker, they 
would have us, at the very first dafh, swear to a damnable 
heresy ; that all things necessary to salvation are comprehended 
in the doclirine of our church only .... and for pre- 
vention, in case the wisdom of the State, in its great 
council, should at any time think fit to alter anything in the 
government of our church, they would anticipate and forstall 
our judgment, by making us swear beforehand that we would 
never give our consent to any alteration. Nay, Mr. Speaker, 
they go a little further, for they would have us swear c That 
the government of the church by archbifhops, bifhops, deans, 
archdeacons, ET CAETERA, is Jure Divino.' . . . whereas 
we meet not with the name of an archbisfhop, or a dean, or an 
archdeacon, in all the New Testament. And whatsoever 
may be said of the function of bifhops, it is one thing, but 
for this jurisdiction it is merely c Humana Inftitutione ,' and 
they must thank the King for it. As for their gross absurd 
* ET CAETERA,' where they would have them swear, 
they know neither what nor how many fathoms deep, there 



190 Colchester , Finchingfield. 

is neither divinity nor charity in it, and yet they would put 
that upon us. Mr. Speaker, what they meant and intended 
by this new oath, and this book of canons, and the book 
of articles, which they would have our churchwardens sworn 
to enquire of, .... I must confess I know not, unless they 
had a purpose therein to blow up the Protestant religion and all 
the professors of it, and to advance their hierarchy a step higher, 
which, I suppose, we all fear is high enough already. . . . 
Who are they, Mr. Speaker, that have countenanced and 
cherifhed Popery and Arminianism to the growth and height 
that it is now come to in this kingdom ? Who are they 
.... that have given encouragement to those that have 
boldly preached these damnable heresies . . . . ? Who are 
they .... that have given authority and licence to them that 
have publifhed these heresies ? Who are they, Mr. Speaker, 
that have of late days been advanced to any dignity or pre- 
ferment in the church but such as be notoriously suspicious 
in their disciplines, corrupt in their doctrines, and for the most 
part vicious in their lives ? . . . . To put ourselves in a way 
for our redress .... it were fit that a committee might be 
named to take these petitions that have been now read, and 
all others of the like nature, into their confideration, to the 
end that the parties grieved may have just repair for their 
grievances, and that out of them laws may be contrived for 
the preventing of the like mischiefs for the future.' * 

A committee was named, consisting of twenty-three mem- 
bers, among whom were Harbottle Grimstone, Sir John 
Clotworthy, and Sir Thomas Barrington. The 17th of 
November was set apart by the House of Commons for a 
c solemn fast.' The House afTembled in St. Margaret's 
Church, Westminster, where Stephen Marfhall, of Finching- 
field, was one of the preachers, f 

On the 15th of December, a resolution was passed in the 
House of Commons, c That the clergy of England .... 

* Rufhworth, Coll. iv. 112 j Pari. f Nalson i. 530. 

Hist. ii. 679. 



Colchester. 19 1 

have no power to make any .... canons .... whatso- 
ever, .... or otherwise to bind the clergy or the laity 
of this land, without common consent of Parliament.' 
And on the 16th it was further resolved, ' That the canons 
and conftitutions ecclesiafHcal treated upon by the Arch- 
bifhops of Canterbury and York .... and the rest of the 
bifhops and clergy of these provinces, and agreed upon with 
the King's Majefty's licence .... in the year 1640, do 
contain in them matters contrary to the King's prerogative, 
to the fundamental laws and statutes of the realm, to the rights 
of Parliament, to the property and liberty of the subjects, and 
matters tending to sedition and of dangerous consequence.' 

On the 17th the Scots exhibited articles against Laud, and, 
in the course of the debate that followed, Harbottle Grimftone 
again spoke at some length, saying, c Mr. Speaker, long intro- 
ductions are not suitable to weighty businesses. We are now 
fallen upon the great man, the Archbifhop of Canterbury .... 
Who is it but he that hath advanced all our Popish bifhops? 
.... These are the men that should have led Christ's flock, 
but they are the wolves that have devoured them ; the sheep 
should have fed upon the mountains, but the mountains have 
eaten up the sheep. It was the happiness of our church when 
the zeal of God's house eat up the bifhops, .... but the zeal 
of the bifhops hath been only to eat up the church .... Who 
is it, Mr. Speaker, but this great archbifhop that hath sate at 
the helm to steer ... all the projects that have been set on 
foot in this kingdom this ten years last past? .... and there is 
scarce any grievance or complaint come before us in this place 
wherein we do not find him, ... as it were, twifted into it . . . 
This man is the corrupt fountain that hath corrupted all the 
streams, and till the fountain be purged, we can never expect 
nor hope to have clear channels .... I conceive it is most 
necessary and fit that we should now take up a resolution to do 
somewhat, to strike while the iron is hot, and to go up to the 
Lords, in the name of the Commons of England, and to accuse 



him of high treason. 



* Rulli worth iv. 122. 



192 Chigwell) Pattiswick. 

On the 1 8th of January a petition was presented to the 
House of Commons against Emmanuel Utey, the vicar of Chig- 
well; and on the 26th of January, another from the inhabitants 
of the town of Pattiswick, against Thomas Dove, the incum- 
bent of that parish, and both petitions were referred to the com- 
mittee which had now been formed c to consider how there may 
be preaching minifters set up where there are none,' and 'of some 
way of removing of scandalous minifters, and putting others 
in their places.' * This body was a sub-committee of the 
grand committee for religion. Walker says that it consifted 
of about sixty-one persons, together with all the knights and 
burgesses of Northumberland, Wales, Lancafhire, Cumberland, 
and the burgesses of Canterbury. Nalson, however, makes it 
to consist of only forty members. Both agree in saying that 
Sir Thomas Cheke and Sir William Mafham were members of 
this committee, and Walker adds the name of Sir Thomas 
Barrington. f 

It was about this time that the celebrated passage of syllo- 
gisms took place between Harbottle Grimftone and John Selden. 
Grimftone argued c that bifhops are Jure Divino is a queftion; 
that archbifhops are not Jure Divino is out of queftion ; 
now that bifhops, which are queftioned whether Jure Divino 
should suspend minifters that are Jure Divino I leave to you, 
Mr. Speaker.' To which Mr. Selden answered, ' that the Con- 
vocation is Jure Divino is a queftion; that Parliaments are not 
Jure Divino is out of queftion; that religion is Jure Div 
there is no queftion. Now, Mr. Speaker, that the Convocation 
which is queftionable whether Jure Divino^ and Parliaments 
which out of queftion are not Jure Divino^ should meddle with 
religion, which, queftionless, is Jure Divino^ I leave to you, 
Mr. Speaker.' Selden was right: and it had been more than 
well if his argument had so far prevailed that the Parliament 
had always left religion alone. % 

On the 20th of March, the House of Commons ordered, 

* Nalson i. 744; Rufhworth iv. 1645 f Sufferings of the Clergy i. 63 

Journals of the House of Commons i. 76. Nalson i. 691. 

X Nalson, 744. 



Scandalous Ministers, 193 

c That the committee for scandalous minifters do prepare and 
draw a bill againft scandalous ministers, and present it to the 
House ; and they are to take that into consideration which has 
been offered concerning commiffioners to be sent into the 
several counties to examine scandals in minifters.' * And 
on the same day the House resolved, c That for bifhops, or 
any other clergymen, to have employment as privy councillors 
at the council table, or as private officers, is an hindrance to the 
discharge of their spiritual function, and a prejudice to the 
commonwealth, and ought to be taken away, and that a bill be 
brought in accordingly.' On the 3rd of May, 1641, the 
House finding that there have been, and having cause to 
suspect that there still are, even during the sittings of Par- 
liament, endeavours made to subvert the fundamental laws of 
England and Ireland .... whereupon the subjects have been 
prosecuted and grieved, and that divers innovations have been 
brought into the church, multitudes driven out of his Majefty's 
dominions, jealousies created between the King and his people, 
and a popish army levied in Ireland, and two armies brought 
into the bowells of this kingdom, and that endeavours have 
been and are used to bring the English army into misunder- 
standing of this Parliament, thereby to incline that army by 
force to bring to pass those wicked counsels, adopts the following 
form of proteftation : ' I, A. B., do, in the presence of Almighty 
God, promise, vow, and protest, to maintain and to defend as I 
lawfully may, with my life, power, and eftate, the true reformed 
religion, expressed in the doctrine of the Church of England, 
against all popery and popish innovation within this realm, 
contrary to the said doctrine ; and, according to the duty of 
my allegiance, I will maintain and defend his Majefty's royal 
person, honour, and eftate, also the power and privilege of 
Parliament, the lawful rights and liberties of the subjects, and 
every person that shall make this proteftation, in whatsoever he 
shall do in the lawful performance of the same; and to my 
power, as far as lawfully I may, I will oppose, and by all good 

* Journals ii. 169. 



194 ^"^ Protestation. 

ways and means endeavour to bring condign punifhment on all 
such as shall by force, practices, counsels, plots, conspiracies, 
or otherwise, do any thing to the contrary in this present pro- 
tection contained. And, further, that I shall, in all just and 
honourable ways, endeavour to preserve the union and peace 
between the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland; 
and neither for hope, fear, or any other respect, shall relinquish 
this promise, vow, and proteftation.' 

This proteftation was immediately taken bv all the members 
of the House then present, and the next day it was sent up to 
the House of Lords, where it was also taken bv all who were 
present, with only two exceptions. It was afterwards taken 
very generally by the absentees of either House. * On the 
5th this proteftation was sent down into all the counties, with 
an intimation that it would be agreeable to the House if it 
were also taken by all corporations, sheriffs, and juftices of the 
peace. Directions were also given that it should be submitted 
to the minifter and inhabitants of the different parifhes, to 
whom it should be read ' on the afternoon of some Lord's day, 
after sermon;' and that 'there be a regifter book provided, in 
which every man taking it should subscribe his name, and that 
the names be taken of such as do refuse the same/ Several 
of the parish regifters in Essex contain this 'proteftation,' 
together with the signatures of the minifter and the parifhioners 
appended to it. t It does not appear that the taking of the 
names of those who refused to sign the proteftation was 
followed by any serious results. Samuel Collins, the vicar of 
Braintree, refused to sign it, yet he continued unmolefted to 
his death. John Gauden did not take it, and yet he was after- 
wards appointed rector of Bocking; neither did John Fuller, 



* Rufhworth iv. 241 ; Nalson i. 810. by the vicar, Rev. T. P. TufFnell, and 

Both Nalson and Ruftworth give com- also with a copy of the entry in the register 

plete lists of those who took the Protesta- at Childerdich, by my friend, the Rev. 

tion. See also Walker i. 22. H. P. Bowen, of Brentwood. I have 

+ I am obliged with a copy of the seen the signatures in the regifter of Great 

entry in the parifh register of Wormingford Bentley. 



Plura lists. 



*95 



the then vicar of Stebbing, yet he also continued unmolefted 
till his death. * 

In June a bill passed the House of Commons which enacted 
'That whosoever had two livings should, before the 21st of 
September next, resign one of them; and that if any clergy- 
man should be absent, at one time, sixty days from his living, 
he should ipso faffo forfeit it.' f And, in September, the 
Commons passed a resolution c That all crucifixes, scandalous 
pictures of any one or more persons of the Trinity, and all 
images of the Virgin Mary, shall be taken away; and that 
all tapers, candlefticks, and basons, be removed from the 
communion table; that all corporal bowing at the name of 
Jesus, or towards the east end of the church .... be hence- 
forth forborne; that the Lord's day shall be duly observed: 
all dancing or sport, either before or after divine service, be 
forborne; that the preaching of God's word be permitted in 
the afternoon; and that minifters and preachers be encouraged 
thereto.' Seven days afterwards, Sept. 8th, these resolutions 
were, in the main, endorsed by the House of Lords, who also 
resolved 'That where there are rails already, they are to be 

* Collins, ante. Gauden was the son of author of the following — Certain Scruples 
John Gauden, who was vicar of May land and Doubts of Conscience about taking 
from 1598. He was first of St. John's, the Solemn League and Covenant, 1643; 
Cambridge, and afterwards of Wadham, A Defence of the Minifters of the Church 
Oxford. He was chaplain to the Earl of of England, 16535 A Petitionary Re- 
Warwick ; then rector of Brightwejl, in monftrance presented to Oliver, Protector, 
Berks, and beneficed also at Chippenham, 4th Feb., 16555 Ecclesia? Anglicanae 
in Cambridgeshire. He became rector of suspiria, 1659 ; besides others published 
Bocking in 1643. He was elected of the after the Reftoration, among which were 
Assembly of Divines. He refused to take a Life of Richard Hooker, prefixed to an 
the Covenant also. In 1659 he became edition of his works. The Eikon Basilike 
preacher at the Temple. At the Restora- is attributed to Gauden. N. i. 68 ; Wood 
tion he was made chaplain to Charles II., Ath. ii. 311 j Keble's Hooker i. xxxi. 
who made him Bifhop of Exeter in 1660. Ful'er was father of Thos. Fuller, Biihop 
In 1662 he was translated to Worcester, of Ardfert, and afterwards Archbiftiop of 
where he died in the December of that Camel. Wood, Fast. ii. 46 ; Kennett's 
year. He preached and printed a funeral Regifter; Davy MSS. B. M. xxxii. 322, 
sermon for Robert, the son of the Earl 324. 
of Warwick, in 1657. He also publiflied f Pari. Hist. ii. 843. 
several other sermons. He was also the 

O 2 



NJ 



196 Parliament Adjourned. 

removed with the communion table ; but where there are 
none, they shall not be enforced on any; and that all steps in 
the church, raised within these fifteen years, shall be re- 
moved.' * The plague now raging in London, both Houses 
shortly afterwards adjourned to the 20th of October, having 
first appointed committees to act during the recess. On the 
committee of the House of Lords we find the name of the 
Earl of Warwick; and on that of the House of Commons the 
names of Sir Henry Mildmay, Sir Thomas Barrington, and Sir 
John Clotworthy. 

Parliament had scarcely re-assembled when the country was 
convulsed with the intelligence that a fearful rebellion had 
broken out in Ireland. Many thousands of men, women, and 
children were moft cruelly used; c the women ript up, and treated 
moft filthily and barbarously, and infants used like toads or 
vermin.' When the matter came to be enquired into, there 
were not wanting many who saw reason to believe the allega- 
tion of the Irifh, c that they had the King's commission for 
what they did.' f During the next few months the breach 
between the King and the Parliament grew wider than ever. 
The c grand remonftrance ' was therefore resolved upon, and 
presented to the King on the 1st of December. % On the 
30th, followed the c impeachment of the twelve bifhops.' On 
the 3rd of January, the King demands the surrender of five 
members of the House of Commons, and one of the members 
of the House of Lords ; and on the 4th, he takes the fatal 
step of going down to the Houses in person, with a body of 
soldiers, to apprehend these whom he had claimed. All 
confidence was now deftroyed, and the country generally 
shared in the alarm which these proceedings had awakened. 

This year was publifhed the celebrated i Answer to a book 
entitled an Humble Remonftrance, in which the original 
of Liturgy and Episcopacy is discussed, and queries pro- 



* Pari. Hift. ii. 907, 908. J Nalson i. 513, 572; Rufhworthi. 

■f- Calamy, Life and Times of Richard 338 — 451. 
Baxter i. 43 ; Rushworth iv. 399, 421. 



The Smectymneans. 197 

pounded concerning both ; the parity of bishops and presbyters 
in Scripture demonftrated ; the occasion of their imparities 
in antiquity discovered ; the disparity of the ancient and 
modern bifhops manifefted ; the antiquity of ruling elders in 
the church vindicated; the prelatical church bounded; written 
by Smeclymnus.' It was a small book, consifting of only 
ninety-four pages, including the appendix, but it proved to be 
the severer!: blow of the kind which ' prelacy ' had ever yet 
received. It was the joint production of Stephen Marfhall, 
then of Finchingfield ; Edward Calamy, recently of Rochford, 
but then of Aldermanbury, London ; Thomas Young, of Stow- 
market; Matthew Newcomen, of Dedham ; and William 
Spurftowe, who was afterwards ejected from Hackney;"^ 
the initial letters of whose several names compose the word 
Smec~tymnus. The c Humble Remonftrance ' to which this 
little book was intended as a reply, was written by Joseph 
Hall, Bifhop of Exeter. Its complete title was, c A Humble 
Remonftrance to the High Court of Parliament,' 1640. The 
appendix to the 'Answer,' consifting of a stirring historical nar- 
rative of the doings of the prelates, concludes thus : — c The 
inhuman butcheries, bloodsheddings, and cruelties of Gardiner, 
Bonner, and the reft of the bifhops in Queen Mary's days, are 
so fresh in every man's memory, as that we conceive it a thing 
unmeaning to make mention of them. Only, we fear lest the 
guilt of the blood then shed should yet remain to be required 
at the hands of this nation, because it hath not publicly en- 
deavoured to appease the wrath of God, by a solemn and 
general humiliation for it. What the practices of the prelates 
have been ever since, from the beginning of Queen Elizabeth 
to this very day, would fill a volume, like Ezekiel's roll, with 
lamentation, mourning, and woe to record. For it hath been 
their design ever since the Reformation to bring in doctrines 
of Popery, Arminianism, and libertinism ; to maintain, propa- 
gate, and much increase the burden of human ceremonies; 
to keep out and beat down the preaching of the word ; and to 

* Calamy, Memorials ; Newcomen ib. 



198 Essex Petitions. 

silence the faithful preachers of it ; to oppose and persecute 
the moft zealous professors, and to tread down the power of 
godliness, insomuch as it is come to an ordinary proverb, that 
when anything is spoiled, we used to say, c the bifhop's foot is 
in it ;' and in all this, and much more that might be said, 
fulfilling BiiTiop Bonner's prophecy, who, when he saw 
in King- Edward's Reformation that there was reservation of 
ceremonies and hierarchy, is credibly reported to have used 
these words : ' Since they have begun to tafte our broth, it 
will not be long before they will eat of our beef.' The c Answer ' 
was replied to by the bifhop in a ' Defence of his Remon- 
strance.' The Smectymneans rejoined with 'A Vindication of 
the Answer,' and Hall concluded with c A Short Answer to a 
tedious Vindication of Smecfymnus.' All these publications 
also were issued in 1641. * 

On the 1 8 th of January, 1642, six thousand Effex men 
came up with two petitions, one to the Lords and another to 
the Commons. t The petition to the Commons was from the 
c Miniflers and other inhabitants,' and says, ' We doe appre- 
hend a great stop in all reformations of matters of religion, 
.... and the whole kingdome to be in great danger of the 
Papists, and other ill-afFec~red persons, who are everywhere 
very insolent, and are ready to act the parts of those cruell 

* Brooks iii. 245 — 247 ; Kippis, number of 20,000 hands, have subscribed 

Biog. Britannica iii. 132. John Milton and presented to the Committee of the 

took a prominent part in this controversy, House of Commons, at Grocer's Hall, in 

'Of Prelatical Episcopacy,' 1641 ; ' Ani- London, Jan. 18, 1641 ; which was ac- 

madversions upon the Remonstrant's companied by knights, gentlemen, and 

Defence againft Smectymnus,' 1641. others of good quality, in a very great 

Hall replied to the Animadversions in number.' London, printed for John 

' A Modeft Confutation,' which provoked Thomas. Afterwards both petitions ap- 

from Milton ' An Apology for Smectym- peared, together with another from the 

nus,' 1642. inhabitants of Colchefter, in a 4to. pam- 

•f Diurnal Occurrences in Parliament, phlet of six pages. Published by order, to 

17th of Jan. to 24th, No. 2, 1641. The prevent false copies. London, printed for 

petitions were afterwards published. That Benjamin Allen, 1642. The county 

to the Commons in a broadside, under the petition is also printed in the Pari. Hift. 

title of 'The Humble Petition of the In- ii. 1053. 
habitants of the county of Essex, who, to the 



Petition of Essex Ministers. 199 

blood-suckers in Ireland . . . . ; by meanes whereof our 
trading, especially of clothing and farming, grew a great pace 
to so great a damper as many thousands are like to come to 
suddaine want. Nor can we expect any redrefTe thereof, un- 
lefTe the bifhops and popish lords be removed out of the House 
of Peers. Therefore we humbly pray that you would earnestly 
mediate his Majesty, and the House of Peeres, that our brethren 
in Ireland may be speedily relieved, and the Papists throughout 
the kingdom be disarmed : and that such defects of armes as in 
your discretions shall appear to be meet may be supplied, and 
this county and kingdom put into such a warlike posture as 
may be best for its defence and safety ; and that the bishops 
and popish lords who, as we conceive, have hindered the suc- 
cefTe of your godly endeavours, may be put out of the House of 
Peers, not doubting but that then our petition, formerly pre- 
sented to your House, will receive a more full and speedy 
answer.' The House ordered the Speaker to call the leaders 
of the petitioners to their bar, to c thank them for their care 
,and affection,' and to allure them of their readiness to forward 
the reformation of religion, freedom, and liberty ; and that 
c with all convenient speed' they would c take their petition 
into consideration. * 

The petition to the Peers says : c Wee doe in all humility 
represent to your most honourable consideration our remaining 
feares and grievances, arising from the delayes of helpe to our 
brethren of Ireland . . . the feares from the Tower of London 
. . . which is intrufted in unknowne hands, and with one whom 
we cannot confide in; the defect of the armes of our trained 
bands, which were not long since taken away . . . the putting 
some of our gentlemen out of the commission for the peace 
because they would not serve the turne of present times ; the 
not executing of priefts condemned by law, whereby that party 
are growne more insolent, seeing that juftice against them is 
stopped, even in the time of Parliament, though they are 
delinquents in the highest kind. The prelates and popish 

* Pari. Hist. ii. 1 049 ; Continuation of the True Diurnal, 20th Jan. 



200 Colchester Petition. 

lords still sitting and voting in your House — a thing, as we 
conceive, most incompatible to the office of the one, and no- 
wise fit to bee allowed to the other. And, laftly, our feares 
are, from the unparallel'd breaches of the liberties of Parlia- 
ment, which are the strength and safety of your body, and the 
inheritance of the subject. All which do cause such decay of 
clothing and farming, the two trades of our county, .... that 
we tremble to thinke what may follow therefrom. Most 
humbly praying that bleeding Ireland may be relieved . . . the 
Tower . . . committed to safe hands, the armes of trained 
bands repaired .... that the county may be put in a pofture 
of defence .... the gentlemen which have beene, for their 
faithfulnesse, put out of commission, may bee reftored; the 
condemned priefts executed; the prelates and popish lords 
may bee excluded your House; the priveleges of Parliament 
may be fully assured, and the worthy members of it, who 
have, in an unheard-of and illegall way, beene endangered, 
may be vindicated and receive reparation.' 

The following petition was also presented from the mayor 
and town of Colchefter: 'May it please this Honourable 
Court, your petitioners cannot enjoy their much desired re- 
formation in religion, but are very fearefull that our consciences, 
as formerly, shall hereafter be inthralled and burthened, and 
our liberties and eftates endangered, by bifhops, chancellours, 
archdeacons, commissaries, and their officials, together with 
the cannons, constitutions, ceremonies, and service book; and 
as dependancies on these we shall still be troubled with idle 
double-benehced, scandalous, and ignorant minifters, who have 
not onely bin carelesse of the duty required of them, but also in 
their places very troublesome and vexatious. And however we 
well perceive that the good intentions of this Honourable Assem- 
bly are, that wee should enjoy the liberty of our consciences 
and tradings; yet, notwithstanding, we find the trade of clothing 
and drapery, upon which the livelihoods of many thousands, 
men, women, and children, in this towne doe depend, to be 
almost wholly decayed, and poverty aboundantly to grow upon 
us, which is occasioned, as we humbly conceive, by the high 



Dunmow. 201 

breaches of the priveleges of Parliament, and the want of a 
thorow reformation in matters of religion, which we conceive 
have been hindered by the oppositions made thereunto by the 
bifhops and popish lords, and by the insolences of papifts in 
this land, and the outrageous cruelties of the rebels in Ireland. 
It is, therefore, most humbly prayed that this Honourable 
Assembly would be pleased, with their unwearied and serious 
zeale, to redresse the aforesaid greevances in Church and State ; 
and that, according to your pious determinations, expressed in 
your late remonstrance, a discipline and government may bee 
establimed according to the word of God. They do likewise 
humbly pray that there may be some considerations had about 
the fortifying of the towne ; the block-house and outworkes 
being at this time wholly ruinated and decayed, the guns 
without carriages, and no man hath the care or charge of them; 
and, besides, the inhabitants, by reason of the great decay of 
trade, are altogether disabled, at their own charge, to furnish 
themselves with such quantities of ammunition and powder as 
is necessary for the defence of so great a port-towne, the losing 
of which would, apparently, indanger the whole county.' 

The next few months were spent in anxious preparation for 
the approaching conflict. On the ioth of June, a meeting 
of the ' Trained Band ' and c Volunteer Companies ' was 
held at Dunmow, when the following resolution was c received 
with universall approbation, by holding up of hands, throwing 
up of hattes, and acclamations, professing that they held them 
unworthy to live that should dislike it.' Within three days it 
was c subscribed with ten thousand hands,' and shortly afterwards 
it was presented to both Houses, in the form of a petition : 
c That we having, with joy and admiration, observed the 
wise and gratious passages and proceedings of the Parliament, 
and the pious, tender, and affectionate care of your honours 
for the preservation of the peace and honour of his most 
excellent Majefty, and these three thrice happily united 
kingdoms, represented to the world in your several ordinances, 
declarations, votes, and remonftrances, sufficient to stop the 
mouth (if it were possible) of malignity itself, cannot but 



202 Dunmow Petition. 

with grief and indignation, wonder to hear that there should 
yet be found, and that even about the royal throne, such un- 
natural and evil affected spirits, and malignant councillors, who 
.... doe continually inftill into his Majefty's royal heart 
sinister conceit and misinterpretation of your moft humble and 
loyall affections and noble actions and undertakings. Where- 
fore we, underftanding, not by misinformation of flying 
report, but by the late votes and declarations of both your 
honourable Houses, that his Majeftie, seduced by wicked 
councell, intends to make warre againft the Parliament ; that 
so to doe is a breach of the truft reposed in him by his people, 
contrary to his oath ; and that whoever shall serve or assist him 
in his warres are trayters to the fundamental lawes of the 
kingdom. And withall, perceiving your moil chriftian and 
heroicall resolutions to persift in your honourable endeavours 
for the publicke safety, though you should, which God avert, 
perifh in the worke, we thought it our duties moft humbly to 
represent to your honours the faithfull affections and inviolable 
resolutions of ourselves to stand or fall, live or die, together 
with you according to our proteftation. Thus, with our 
hands upon our swords, we stand ready at your command, to 
performe our vows to God, and oaths of fidelity to his Majeftie, 
in taking up arms against false flatterers and traytors, who 
abuse his royal favour, intending, under the glorious title of 
his name and standard, to fight againft the peace and honour of 
their sovereign, against religion, and the lawes, and to make a 
prey and spoyle of three flourifhing kingdomes at once ; and to 
spend our dearest blood in the defence of the lives and liberties 
of our countrymen, the lawes which are the life of our liberty 
and peace, religion more precious than both, and the King and 
the Parliament, in whose lives lie bound up the lives of all 
the rest. Whosoever is otherwise affected, we hold him not 
worthy the name of a soldier, but a proditor of his King and 
country to all posterity. Lastly, finding a multitude of well- 
affected people, whose hearts are good to joyne with us, but 
want armes, we most humbly crave that restitution may be 
made of those armes which were taken out of their county, 



Colchefter. 203 

either out of the store lately arrived from Hull, or other- 
wise, as to your most honourable House shall seem best.' * 
This petition was carried to the Commons by the high 
sheriff, Robert Smyth, of Upton, accompanied by a number 
of county gentlemen, one of whom, at the presenting of the 
petition, declared c that though there were not above ten 
thousand hands to it, yet there were some four score and ten 
thousand that were ready to set their hands to it if they had 
had time/ f 

On the nth of August the King published a proclamation, 
declaring the Earl of EiTex and the army which he had by this 
time organized, under the auspices of the Parliament, 'rebels;' 
and the next day serious disturbances broke out in Colchefter. 
Sir John Lucas had secretly collected a small force in the town 
with which he intended to join the King. This being dis- 
covered, on the nth, which was Sunday, John Langley, 
captain of the trained band, and Henry Barrington, alderman, 
rode over to Coggefhall, from thence to Braintree and Bocking, 
and from thence to Halsted, to invite affistance. Sir John, 
not knowing this, sallied forth early in the morning of the 
1 2th, when he found a strong guard pofted at the outside of 
the gates to prevent him. The whole town was inftantly 
aroused, and the volunteers fired upon him, and horsemen were 
sent by direction of Daniel Cole, alderman, into all parts of 
the county to call in further aid. A riot now ensued. Sir 
John's house was broken into, its contents were spoiled, and 
its inmates apprehended. Among them was Thomas New- 
comen, the rector of Trinity, who was implicated in the 
conspiracy, and had aided Lucas in collecting the force. Sir 
John himself was also taken, together with Lady Lucas, his 
sister, and his mother. The mayor, Ralph Harrison, not 
knowing what to do, dispatched a messenger to London to 

* Broadside. London, printed by R. f Rufhworth iv. 479 ; Smith, Morant 

O. and S. D., for William Sames, at the i. ix 5 Journals of the House of Commons, 
sign of the Bible in E. Cheepe. It was 17th June, 1642. 
printed by order of the House of Commons. 
Journal, 17th June. 



204 Disturbances in Essex. 

inform the Parliament. The next day Sir Thomas Barrington 
and Harbottle Grimfton were sent down to inveftigate the 
matter on the spot. The result of the investigation was, that 
Sir John Lucas and Thomas Newcomen were brought up to 
London in cuftody. On the 29th Sir John was declared guilty 
of high treason, fined in the sum of ^40,000, and laid under 
bond not to depart from London or the suburbs without the 
permiffion of the House ; and Newcomen was committed to 
the Fleet, where he remained until the 24th of September, 
when he was discharged. * In the meantime the tumult had 
spread into the neighbourhood. In the course of the inveftiga- 
tion it was discovered that the violence to which the people 
had proceeded was greatly owing to a printed paper, which had 
been freely circulated, purporting to be an order from the Par- 
liament to plunder the houses of any who were suspected of 
disaffection to them. This led to a repudiation of the ' paper' 
by the House of Commons, and a formal condemnation of all 
the proceedings to which it had, unhappily, given rise. The 
sufferers from the c plundering ' were also re-imbursed by order 
of the House. On the 14th of September, Sir Thomas Honey- 
wood and Harbottle Grimftone, accompanied by 'near upon 
five hundred of the county of EfTex/ came to the House to 



* Sir John Lucas was then refident at 98. Henry Barrington was twice Bailiff 

St. John's Abbey. He was the son of of Colchefter, in 16 17 and 1629. He 

Sir Thomas, and the third knight of that was also Mayor in 1640. Morant MSS. 

name. Notwithstanding his bond, he Colchefter Museum. Daniel Cole was 

afterwards joined the army of the King, three times Bailiff, in 1624, 1628, and 

and was present at several battles, among 1 634 : and twice Mayor, in 1635, 1644. 

others at those of Leftwithiel and New- ib. Newcomen, infra. Harrison was buried 

bury. In 1644 he was created a peer by at St. Botolph's. He was the father of 

the title of Lord Lucas, of Shenfield. In Ralph Harrison, clerk, who was buried 

1663 he procured his daughter, Mary, the in St. Leonard's. Mor. Col. April 23. 

Countess of Kent, to be created a peeress, Declaration of the Lords and Commons 

by the title of Baroness Lucas, of Crude- .... concerning the abuses .... in 

well, Wilts. He died July 2, 1671, and the County of Effex. Printed by order 

was buried in the Church of St Giles', of Parliament, Sept. 2, 1642. Broadsheet. 

Colchefter. Mor., Colchefter, p. 124} Perfect Diurnal, No. 12. Mercurius rus- 

John Langley, p. 174. He was made ticus, 1648. 1 — 6. Journals of the House 

M. A. of Oxford, 1637. Wood, Fasti, ii. of Commons. 



Walden, Dagenham, Barking, Lachingdon. 205 

inform them that the l tumults and uproars lately raised in 
Colchefter and elsewhere in the county had been appeased, and 
that the county in general stood well affected to the King and 

Parliament In witness whereof, there hath been a 

general collection throughout the whole county, and so have 
gathered some more, some lesse, according to each man's 
ability, in plate and money, seven horse load, amounting to 
£30,000, and have left it at the Guildhall, London.' * 

In the meanwhile petitions continued to flow in from the 
county on the subject of religion, f Some parifhes petitioned 
for the appointment of lecturers : among them Saffron Walden, 
Dagenham, and Barking. The Saffron Walden petition was 
complied with on the 8th of March, by the recommendation of 
c Mr. William Spalden, M.A., ... to preach a weekly lecture 
on such day of the week as the parifhioners shall agree upon, 
and also on every Lord's day in the afternoon;' and the order 
that c the vicar and all other persons should permit him to 
preach there without interruption.' The Dagenham petition 
was complied with on the 26th of September, by the recom- 
mendation of Mr. John Bowyer to the parifhioners c to preach 
to them every Lord's day in the forenoon,' and the order c that 
Mr. Charles True, the minifter of that place, is required to 
permit him the free use of his pulpit accordingly.' The 
parifhioners of Barking expressly petitioned for John Bowyer, 
and the House complied with their request by recommending 
him to preach to them in. the afternoons, requiring c Dr. Hall 

* Perfect Diurnal, No. 6. Sir Thos. •f There was one presented to the 

Honeywood was the son of Sir Robert, of House of Lords by Laud. It was for 

Charing, in Kent, and Markshall, in their sanction to the appointment of 

Essex. He was brother-in-law to Sir Richard Howlett, who had recently loft 

Harry Vane. He was one of the Com- a good living in Ireland by the rebellion 

mittee for Essex. In 1648 he commanded there, to the Rectory of ' Lachenden.' 

at the siege of Colchefter. In 1651 he Howlett was also recommended by the 

led a company of Essex men at Worcester. Archbifhop of Armagh. Laud's requeft 

In the same year he was made D.C.L. was complied with, and Howlett was in- 

at Oxford. He was member for Essex stituted accordingly. His name does not 

1654 — 1656. In 1657 he was one of appear in Newcourt. Journal of House 

Cromwell's Lords. He died 26th May, of Lords iv. 715. See infra. 
1666. 



206 



Walthamstow, Hatfield. 



to permit him to exercise his miniftry without any lett or 
interruption.' * 

It was now that the greater number of the sequestrations 
took place, of which I have given a full account in the 
Appendix to this Chapter. In the meanwhile the battle of 
Edgehill had been fought; other events had also taken place 
which it would be foreign to the purpose of these pages to 
relate. On the 16th of February, 1643, the parishioners of 
Walthamftow, the cure of whose church had long been 
neglected in consequence of a protracted lawsuit on the 
subject of the patronage, petitioned the House of Commons 
for relief. The House ordered that the sequeftration, which 
had taken place at the inftance of Juxon, Bifhop of London, 
should be declared void, and that the 'tithes and profits should 
be paid to Mr. Lee, the then minifter.' \ 



* Journals of H. of C. ii. 783, 803, 
992 ; iii. 270. The Vicar of Walden 
seems to have been Nicholas Gray. 
Newc. ii. 627 ; Bowyer and True, infra. 
The Vicar of Barking was Richard Hall, 
13th April, 1630. N. ii. 35. 

f Journal iii. 401. The lawsuit had 
been carried on ever since the death of 
Alexander Grant, in 1638. Cole, MSS. 
additions to Newcourt, Britifh Museum. 
The cure had been supplied for some time 
after Grant's death by Alexander Robin- 
son. This Lee, Cole thinks, was Richard 
Lee, who became of Hatfield Regis, 19th 
Dec, 1660. Kennett, Hift. Regifter, 
234. He had been Rector of St. Martin 
Orgar, on the sequeftration of Bryan 
Walton. Journal H. of Commons iii. 
136. Lee was very active in procuring 
the covenant to be taken, for which 
service he had a piece of plate presented 
to him by the committee which sat at 
Romford. In Sept., 1644, his name 
appears in the lift of twenty-three persons 
who, after the abolition of Episcopacy, 
were appointed as ordainers. Journal 
Ho. of Co. iii. 630. In 1648, he was in 



trouble for a sermon which he preached 
in the Temple. His name again appears 
in the Journals of the House of Lords, as 
receiving a patent, vi. 403. In 1652, 
his name is attached to a petition, which 
was also signed by * the regicides, 
Whalley, Skey, Harrison, and their 
preachers Nye, Sympson, Greenhill, 
Bridge, Byfield, Goodwin, White, Storry,' 
and others, that persons of godliness, and 
gifts of the Univerfity, and others, though 
not ordained, may preach the gospel, and 
receive the public maintenance ; and that 
a number of persons, minifters, and others 
of eminency and godliness, may sit in 
every county to examine and approve of 
such as are called to preach. Journal of 
PIo. of Commons viii. 259. There is 
another reference to him in the same 
Journal, viii. 462. There is a long poem 
of some 120 lines, by Dr. Wilde, on the 
changes of Lee. Poems, Lond., 1668, 
8vo. Cole says that 'In a 4*0. of Mis- 
cellaneous Poems given to Magdalen 
College Library, among other printed 
pamphets is a poem entitled 'The Re- 
cantation of Penitent Proteus, as acted 



Book of Sports, 207 

On the 5th of May the 'Bo ok of Sports/ s o frequently 
referred to in the preceding pages, was ordered by the Parlia- 
ment to c be forthwith burnt by the hand of the common 
hangman, in Cheapside and other usual places.' This order 
was executed by the sheriffs of London, on the Wednesday 
following, 'at twelve of the clock.' * Five days after the 
burning of the Book of Sports, the King publifhed, at Oxford, 
a proclamation against the proceedings of Parliament in the 
matter of sequeftrations, in which he declared them to be null 
and void, and commanded all persons to regard and treat them 
accordingly. The committee, however, still continued their 
enquiries notwithstanding, and before the end of the year many 
more had taken place, f 

It had long been in contemplation to convene a representative 
assembly to deliberate on the reformation of religion, and this 
year that purpose was fulfilled. % An ordinance was passed 
on the 1 2th of June c for the calling of an assembly of learned 
and godly divines and others, to be consulted with the Parlia- 
ment for the settling of the Government and Liturgy of the 

with good applause in St. Mary's, in f Rufh worth v. 319 ; Mercurius 

Cambridge, and at St. Paul's, in London.' Aulicus, 20th week j Journals of both 

This also refers to Lee. Soon after his Houses; Diurnal No. 1. 
collation to Hatfield, Lee preached a J As early as April 25, 1642, there was 

celebrated sermon, which was pub- publifhed, 'A Catalogue of the names of 

lifhed under the title of 'A Broken Orthodox Divines presented by the 

and a Contrite Heart,' a sermon on Ps. li. Knights and Burgesses of several counties, 

17. London, 1664, 4to. It was dedi- cities, and boroughs, as fit persons to be 

cated to Sheldon. The sermon was an consulted with by the Parliament, touching 

act -of abjecl: self-humiliation. At the the reformation of Church Government 

time that Lee preached this sermon he and the Liturgy. London, printed by 

was chaplain to Monk, then recently Thomas Fawcett, for Thomas Banks.' 

created Duke of Albemarle. See infra. The Essex names mentioned are, Stephen 

Lee was a worthy successor of Henry Sidal, Marfhall, of Finchingfield, and Obadiah 

of whom see Strype, Cranmer 209, 285, Sedgwick, of Coggeshall. These names 

5 X 9> 55°) Ecc. Mem. ii. i. 383; ii. were sent in pursuance of an < Ordinance ' 

200 ; Hi. i. 394; Parker i. 154. which was passed by both Houses, April 

* Rufh worth v. 317. The order was 9,1642. Hanbury Memorials ii. 149. 
publifhed on a broadside. London, printed 
for Thomas Underhill, in Great Wood 
Street, May 9, 1643. 



V 



I 






208 Assembly of Divines. 

Church of England, and for vindicating and clearing of the 
doctrine of the said church from false aspursions and inter- 
pretations.' The 'divines' consifted of one hundred and 
twenty minifters, and the 'others' of ten Lords and twenty 
Commoners. Among the laymen were Edward, Earl of 
Manchefter; Edward, Lord Howard, of Esrick; Sir John 
Clotworthy; and Sir Thomas Barrington. Among the minifters 
were William Bridge, Edmund Calamy, Stephen Marfhall, 
Matthew Newcomen, Obadiah Sedgwick (recently vicar of 
Coggefhall), and Matthias Styles, reclior of Orsett. * It was 
expressly provided by the 'ordinance' that the 'assembly' 
should reftrict themselves to 'consult and advise of such 
matters and things as shall be proposed to them by both or 
either of the Houses of Parliament;' and 'that they should not 
assume to exercise any jurisdiction, power, or authority 
ecclesiaftical whatsoever.' Immediately after the publication 
of the Parliamentary ordinance, the King issued a proclama- 
tion 'forbidding the assembly, and declaring that no acl:s done 
by them ought to be received,' and threatening to proceed 
against them with the utmost rigor of the law. f The 
assembly, notwithstanding, met on the ist of July, and 
forthwith proceeded to the business with which they had been 
charged. On the 27th of August they adopted 'The Solemn 
League and Covenant,' which was sent up the next day to the 
Houses of Parliament, and on the 21st of September following 
it was formally taken in St. Margaret's, Weftminfter, by such 
of the members of the House of Commons as were then in 
town, and by the assembly of divines, f It was also taken 
by the House of Lords, and afterwards it was ordered that it 
should be generally taken throughout the kingdom. || Charles 

* Rufhworth v. 337. The Earl of Gauden, Rector of Booking, was also 
Manchefter was brother-in-law to the nominated. Ath. Ox. ii. 311. 
Earl of Warwick. He was possessed of -j- Neal ii. 42, ed. 1754. This Pro- 
considerable efr.ar.es in Essex, at Brom- clamation was dated June 22. 
field, Great Waltham, and Little Leighs. J Rufhworth v. 339. 
Morant ii. 102, 76, 85, 103. Lord || Rufhworth iv. 75; Pari. Hist. iii. 
Howard also was connected with Essex. 192. The orders could not have been 
Mor. i. 402. Wood says that John very strictly executed, as John Ganden 



Essex Committee for Scandalous Ministers. 209 

also denounced this step in a proclamation, dated October 9, in 
which he straitly c charged and commanded all our loving 
subjects, upon their allegiance, that they presume not to like 
the . . . said Covenant.' * It is from the taking of the 'Solemn 
League and Covenant' that the entire dissolution of the 
hierarchy dates : henceforward the functions hitherto discharged 
by the prelates, in the inftitution and removal of minifters, 
became wholly vested in the Parliament. The hierarchy 
being dissolved, it also became necessary that some provision 
should be made for the ordination of candidates for the ministry. 
This was met by the appointment of a committee of the 
assembly of divines for that express purpose, f 

In January, an ordinance was passed empowering the Earl 
of Manchefter to appoint one or more committees in each 
of the counties of Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertford, Cam- 
bridge, Huntingdon, and Lincoln, consifting of 'such as have 
been nominated deputy-lieutenants or committees by any 
former ordinance of Parliament,' for the purpose of invefti- 
gating complaints againft the then exifting miniftry. This 
was done to obviate the expense and inconvenience of bringing 
witnesses up to the metropolis. Under this ordinance the Earl 
appointed Sir Thomas Honeywood, Sir Henry Mildmay, 
Oliver Raymond, Richard Harlackenden, John Meade, Arthur 
Barnardifton, Thomas Coke, John Ellifton, Robert Crane, 
and Henry Barrington, as a committee for the county of 
Essex, with full power 'to call before (them) all minifters 
within the county .... that are scandalous in their lives, 
or ill-affected to the Parliament, or promoters of this unnatural 
warre, or that shall wilfully refuse obedience to the ordinances 
of Parliament, or that have deserted their ordinary places of 
residence, not being employed in the service of the King and 
Parliament;' and also 'to send for any witnesses and to 
examine any complaints, in teftimony againft such ministers 

and several men in this county refused to of Commons. Husband's Collections, 420. 
take it j and there was not any penalty * Rufliworth v. 482. 

attached to the not taking it, beyond that f Neal ii. 70. 

of being returned as refusers to the House 

P 



/ 



/ 



210 Essex Committee for Scandalous Ministers. 

upon the oaths of such persons as shall and may be produced 
to give evidence against them, and to certify the names of such 
ministers, with the charges and proofes against them, to him ;' 
and ' to administer the late Covenant taken or to be taken of 
all the three kingdoms .... by all persons within the said 
county.' The Earl's warrant bears the date of February 26, 
1643-4. * Their instructions were: — c I. Diligently to set 
about the work, and to that end to split into several committees 
of five, and to fix certain days for their sitting at several 
places. II. When articles were exhibited against a minister, 
to summons him and the witnesses. III. I think it not fit that 
the party accused should be present at the taking of the depo- 
sitions, because of discouraging the witnesses and disturbing 
the service ; but when depositions are taken, the accused is to 
be entitled to a copy on paying for it, and a day shall be named 
for him to answer in writing and to make his defence at 
another meeting to be appointed, within fourteen days or so. 
IV. You are to return both accusation and defence under your 

* Cole MSS. British Museum, vol. champ Walter. He was afterwards one 

xxviii. j Plut. clxxxi. 5 F. 5829. It is of the knights for the county, in 1653 — 

„J described by Mr. Cole thus : * MS. original 1 656. Raymond married Frances, daughter 

of the villanous and iniquitous actings of of Sir William Harris, of Margareting. 

the Committee appointed by the Parlia- He was buried at Belchamp, March 25, 

ment of 1643, against such as they were 1679. Morant ii. 330. Richard Har- 

pleased to call Scandalous Minifters. It lackenden was of Earl's Coine. See p. 

was given to me by Stephen Soane, of 464. He was the grandson of Sir Henry 

Thurlow, in Suffolk, Esquire, in 1752. Mildmay, of Graces. Morant ii. 212. 

He had it a present from Lady Bernar- John Meade was of Nortofts, Finching- 

difton, of Kedington, in the same county, field. His wife was the niece of Sir 

with two other MSS. . . . This Com- Thomas Barrington. Morant ii. 366 

mittee's Acts is a thin 4to. of about forty Arthur Barnardifton was the son of Sir 

leaves, in different persons' hands ; before Thomas Barnardifton ? of Witham ? 

it is placed a copy of the Earl of Man- Burke's Landed Gentry i. 55. Thomas 

chefter's commission to these persons to act Cooke was of Pebmarsh. He was created 

by. . .' The same volume contains several D.C.L. of Oxford in 1651. He was one 

pages of notes to Walker's Sufferings, and of the knights for Essex in 1654. Mor. 

also some additional matter relating to the ii. 263 ; Wood, Fasti, ii. 97. John 

Essex, Cambridge, and Suffolk sequeftra- Ellifton was of Overhall, Geftingthorp. 

tions, taken from a copy of the committee Morant ii. 306. Robert Crane was of 

book in the possession of Dr. Philip Coggefhall. 
Williams. Oliver Raymond was of Bel- 



Essex Committee for Scandalous Ministers. 21 1 

hands, sealed up, to Mr. Good and Mr. Am, appointed to 
communicate with me. V. If the accused refuse to appear 
to defend, the cause of such absence or default is to be certified ; 
for if he is non-resident, or fighting againft the Parliament, I 
shall proceed against him notwithstanding. VI. Because of 
the backwardness of pariffiioners to complain of ministers, 
although they be very scandalous, too many being enemies 
to that blessed Refo rmation^ and loath to come under a 
powerful ministry, and some sparing their ministers because 
such ministers, to gain the good opinion of their people, spare 
them in their tithes ; you are willed to call unto you some 
well-affected men in every hundred, who, having no private 
engagement, to give you information, both what can be deposed 
and who can depose to it. VII. Allowance to be made to 
each committee of five shillings per day, to be paid by the 
sequestrators of the said county; out of this the clerk is to 
be paid, that he may not discourage informers by taking fees, 
&c. VIII. You are to proceed against all ministers and 
schoolmasters that are scandalous in their doctrine or lives, 
non-resident, ignorant, or unable for the service, idle, lazy, 
and all that are any waies ill-affected to the Parliament, or 
to the proceedings thereof, expressed either by their speeches 
or actions. IX. To require from pariffiioners nomination of 
a successor, with good testimonials from the beft affected 
neighbouring gentry and county miniftry, as to his sufficiency, 
life, conversation; and to take care that no anabaptifts or anti- 
nomians be named, but those that are orthodox and acceptable 
to the Weffminster assembly. X. To enquire the true value 
of every living brought in queftion, and certify it to me ; also 
the private eftate of the accused, that I may know what 
allowance to make, on sequeftration, for his wife and children. 
XL To promote the service by all other ways and means, at 
discretion.' I have given a full account of the results of the 
actions of this committee in Essex, as far as I have been able 
to ascertain them, in an Appendix to this Chapter. 1. Seques- 
trations. 

In January, 1645, appeared the famous ordinance for 

p 2 



212 The Directory. 

abolifhing the Book of Common Prayer, and eftablifhing the 
Directory. As this ordinance is frequently misrepresented, 
I have thought it well to transcribe it at length. It is as 
follows : — ' The Lords and Commons, assembled in Par- 
liament, taking into serious consideration the manifold incon- 
veniences that have arisen by the Book of Common Prayer in 
this kingdom, and resolving, according to their covenant, to 
reform religion according to the word of God, and the example 
of the beft reformed churches, have consulted with the reverend, 
pious, and learned divines called together to that purpose, and 
do judge it necessary that the said Book of Common Prayer 
be abolifhed, and the Directory for the public worfhip of God 
.... be eltabli fried and observed in all the churches within 
this kingdom. Be it therefore ordained by the Lords and 
Commons .... that the statute of the second and third 
years of King Edward the Sixth, intituled c the penalty for 
not using Uniformity of Worship and Administration of the 
Sacrament,' &c. ; and 'the statute of the fifth and sixth years 
of the same King, intituled, Uniformity of Prayer and Ad- 
miniftration of Sacraments shall be used in the Church ;' and 
so ' much of the statute in the first year of Queen Elizabeth 
intituled, ' there shall be Uniformity of Prayer and Adminis- 
tration of Sacraments' as concerns the said Book of Common 
Prayer, and the Uniformity of Prayer and Administration 
of the Sacraments ; and so much of the statute of the fifth 
year of the same Queen, by whose order the Bible and 
Book of Common Prayer shall be translated into the Welfh 
tongue, as concerns the Book of Common Prayer ; and so 
much of the statute of the eighth year of the same Queen, 
intituled, All Acts made by any person since Elizabeth 
for the consecrating, inverting, &c, of any archbifhop or 
bifhops, shall be good as concerns the said Book : be and 
stand from henceforth repealed, void, and of none efTec-T. to 
all intents, conftrucT:ions, and purposes whatsoever ; and that 
the said Book of Common Prayer shall not remain in use 
from henceforth in any church, chappel, or place of publique 
worfhip within the kingdom of England, or dominion of 



The Directory. 



213 



Wales ; and that the Directory for publique worfhip herein 
set forth, shall be henceforth used, pursued, and observed.' * 

It is to be observed that there are no penalties attached to 
the neglect, of the Directory -, the whole force of the ordinance 
lies in the repeal of the statutes which compelled the use of 
the Prayer Book, under pain of heavy fine and imprisonment. 
But before the end of the year, in August, an acl: was passed 
under which any person using the Book of Common Prayer, 
was fined for the firji offence, five pounds ; for the second, ten ; 
and for the third, a whole year's imprisonment ; and any 
person saying or printing anything to the disparagement of the 
Directory, was liable to a fine of not less than five pounds or 
more than fifty, f 



* A Directory for the publique Wor- 
ship of God throughout the three 
kingdoms. London, 1646, 4-to. Rufh- 
worth vi. 785. The general intention 
of the Directory, which is not a form of 
public service, but a series of recom- 
mendations to minifters, as to their 
conduct of public worfhip, may be in- 
ferred from the concluding sentence of 
the preface : ' Our meaning therein being 
only that the general heads, the sense and 
scope of the prayers, and other parts of 
publique worfhip being known to all, 
there may be a consent of all the churches 
in those things that contain the subftance 
of the service and worfhip of God ; and 
the minifters may be hereby directed in 
their administrations to keep like sound- 
ness in doctrine and prayer ; and may, if 
need be, have some help and furniture ; 
and yet so as they become not hereby 
slothfull and negligent in stirring up the 
gifts of Chrift in them. But that each 
one, by meditation, by taking heed to 
himself, and the flock of God committed 
to him, and by wise observing the ways of 
Divine Providence, may be carefull to 
furnifh his heart and tongue with further 
or other materials of prayer and exhorta- 
tion, as shall be needfull on all occasions.' 



f Scobell, Acts of the Interregrum i. 
97. This act could not have been en- 
forced with any great severity. Peter 
Gunning, afterwards Bifhop of Ely, held 
a ' constant congregation . . . where, by 
his reading the Englifh liturgy ... he 
asserted the cause of the Church of Eng- 
land, with great pains and courage, when 
the Parliament was moft predominant.' 
This was at Cambridge. Walker ii. 142. 
Dr. Thomas Fuller, the author of the 
'Church Hiftory,' and the 'Worthies,' 
did the same thing, and says that ' others 
might have had like liberty with himself 
if they would have foreborne printing 
and preaching satires on the times.' 
'Appeal of Injured Innocence' i. 13, 14. 
Calamy, Church and Dissenters compared 
as to persecution, 57. In the parifh 
church of St. Bennet, Paul's Wharf, of 
which the sainted Thomas Adams, a 
stanch episcopalian and royalift, was 
rector, 'many noblemen and gentlemen 
worfhipped during the Commonwealth, 
the rector and churchwardens continuing 
to have the liturgy conftantly used, and 
the sacraments properly adminiftered.' 
Malcolm, Londinium Redivivum ii. 472. 
Antony Faringdon exercised the same 
liberty at St. Mary Magdalen, Milk 



214 Petition of Essex Ministers. 

The Presbyterians were now in the ascendant, but the c Re- 
formation' which had long become so needful, to many appeared 
to proceed but slowly. In May, 1646, a petition was presented 
to the Lords by the minifters of Essex and Suffolk, urging 
them to a more speedy action in the organization of the counties 
on the Presbyterian c discipline.' They say: 'Your solemn 
League and Covenant, your most glorious victories, the ex- 
pectation of the reformed churches beyond the seas, the loving 
desires of our brethren of Scotland, the humble petitions of 
the Reverend Assembly and the great city of this kingdom, 
the pressing miseries of the orthodox and well affected minifters 
and people in this county, cry aloud to your honours for a 
settling of Church Government according to the Word. For 
the want of this it is, Right Honourable, that the name of the 
Most High God is blasphemed, His precious truths corrupted, 
His Word despised, His minifters discouraged, His ordinances 
vilified. Hence it is that schism, heresy, ignorance, prophane- 
ness, and atheism flow in upon us; seducers multiply, grow 
daring and insolent; pernicious books poison many soules; 
piety and learning decay apace; very many congregations lie 
wafte without paftors; the sacrament of baptism (is) by many 
neglected, and by many reiterated; the Lord's Supper generally 
disused, or exceedingly prophaned; confusion and ruin threat- 
ening us in all our quarters. In all humility, therefore, 
acknowledging your unwearied labors for the pubic good, your 
successful endeavours for saving this kingdom, your hopeful 
beginnings of a blessed Reformation, we, out of consciene, 
and in tender regard to the glory of God and the salvation of 
our people, beseech your honours that a form of Church 
Government according to the word of God, and the example 

Street. Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 226. See consist with the limits of a note, see 

also memoir prefixed to the 8vo. edition of ' The Conformists Plea for the Noncon- 

his sermons. Dr. Hewitt also conducted formifts.' It is scarcely conceivable that 

similar services, which were attended by John Gauden, of Bocking, would use the 

the Ladies Falconbridge and Claypole, Directory, or refrain from using the 

Cromwell's daughters. For other in- Common Prayer, 
stances and fuller particulars than would 



Petition of Essex Ministers. 215 

of the best reformed churches, may with all possible speed be 
perfected and confirmed by your civil sanction; that schismatics, 
heretics, seducing teachers, and soul-subverting books (may) be 
effectually suppressed ; that further care may be had of ordina- 
tion for a supply of able and orthodox minifters, and all good 
meanes used to make up the said breeches in this our Zion . . . 
So shall the churches of God be settled, your hands strength- 
ened, the second covenant performed, our fears prevented, the 
judgments of God diverted.' * This petition was presented on 
the 29th by c divers minifters' appointed for that purpose by 
their brethren. After they had presented it these minifters with- 
drew. On the same day, the Lords having called them in again, 
the Speaker, Edward, Earl of Manchefter, replied : ' The 
Lords are glad to find the zeal and care in the miniftry of the 
counties of Suffolk and Essex for the preventing the further 
increase of heresy and prophaneness, and for the promoting a 
growth in the power of godliness. The Lords desire you to 
continue still in your endeavours therein, and they will not be 
wanting to give you thanks for your expression of your good 
affections to the Parliament and this cause; and do assure you 
that they will improve their power for the suppression of error, 
heresy, seducing teachers, and soul-subverting books; and 
likewise for the settlement of Church Government according 
to the word of God, and the example of the best reformed 
churches, to which they hold themselves obliged by their 
solemn League* and Covenant; and that their Lordihips have 
appointed that their petition shall be printed and publifned.' f 

The result of this movement on the part of the minifters 
was, that, in June, an 'ordinance* was passed 'for the present, 
without further delay, of the Presbyterial government in the 

* Journal H. of Lords viii. 338. For expressed great offence at it, and 'many 

the Petition of the city of London, see sober men . . . looked upon it as wholly 

also Pari. Hist. iii. 422. Three days after a design of the Presbyterian party .... 

the presentation of this petition from Essex They came at last to this answer, that 

the city of London petitioned both Houses they would take it into consideration in 

for the suppression of the Independents. convenient time.'' Whitelock, Memorials 

Pari. Hist. iii. 474. The Commons had ii. 26. 

a long debate upon this petition; many \ Journals H. of Lords viii. 337. 



216 The Presbyterian Classes. 

county of Essex.' * The execution of this ordinance was a 
work of some time. It was not until the month of January 
that it was completed and received the sanction of Parliament. 
The arrangement was then publifhed in a 4-to. pamphlet, under 
the title of 'The Division of the County of Essex into several 
classes, together with the Names of the Minifters and others 
fit to be of each Classis, certified by the Standing Committee 
of that County, and approved of by the Committee of Lords 
and Commons appointed by Ordinances of both Houses, for 
the Judging of Scandall and Approving the Classes in the 
several Counties of England. Printed at London for John 
Wright, at the King's Head, in the Old Bailey, 1648.' I 
have thought this document of sufficient interest and value to 
reprint it in the Appendix (No. 2), with such annotations as, 
with my limited resources and still more limited leisure, I 
have been able to collect. 



Scobell, pt. i. 



APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VII. 

No. i. 
The Sequestrations. 

Abberton. — Thomas Warner was sequestered before 
February, 1644, but for what reason I have not been able to 
ascertain. One Mitchell became his succeflbr, but the ap- 
pointment proving to be informal, and Robert Potter having 
been legally presented, after some confiderable delay Mitchell 
was removed, and Warner having died in the meanwhile, 
Potter obtained the rectory and kept it till his death, before 
July, 1671. * 

Aldham. — Depositions were taken againft Daniel Falconer, 
parson of Aldham, July 23, 1644, at Halfted, before Thomas 
Cooke, Isaac Wincoll, John Ellifton, Robert Crane, and 
Richard Harlackenden. Four witneffes deposed on oath to 
his having c read the Book of Sports ; ' four to his being c a 
common swearer ; ' three to his having been c a promoter of 
the late innovations, coming to the rayles, standing up at 
Gloria Patri;' three to his having 'denied the sacrament to 
Elizabeth Cockerell, Elizabeth South, and Sara Little, except 
they would kneele at the rayles ;' one to his having c preached 
that the King was innocent, and that God would bless his 
innocent cause ; ' one that ' on a fast day morning he desired 
some parifhioners to pray for the King and the councillors 
with him, for they were his good councillors, but the Parlia- 
ment were drawn away by the people ;' one that c he told him 
in private he did believe that if the King got his rights the 

* 'Minifters of Committee for Plun- ner died before Sept., 1646. lb. 15670, 

dered Minifters.' Add. MSS. B. M. 424. Potter was instituted 3rd Sept., 

156695 15670, 29, 69, 137,246,291, 1646,011 the presentation of Sir Henry 

388,424,475; t 5671, 20, 24. War- Audley. Newc. ii. 3} see p. 476. 



2i8 Appendix to Chap. VII. 

soldiers would be better paid than they are by the Parliament ;' 
two that he said c that if ever the tymes came to be as they had 
been (as I hope they will) I will try a suite with every one of 
those who are leasers and collectors, by which meanes several 
persons have been much discouraged in their service to the 
Parliament;' two that c he declared at a christening that he 
hoped to see the Book of Common Prayer and the ceremonies 
used agayne in the church ; ' one replied, ' he hoped it would 
never be as long as he lived ; ' c yes,' said Mr. Falconer, c I 
will warrant you ; ' two that c he bestowes much of his tyme 
about worldly employments, as dreflinge corne, pitching carts, 
and that sometimes on Satterday at night, whereas it were 
better that he were in his studdy ; ' two that he ' hath taken up 
young apple trees in other men's gardens and set them in his 
orchard, and fished other men's ponds with netts, and set grains 
to catch hares, &c. ;' and that c such like is his frequent em- 
ployment ;' three that he is ' ungifted and unfitt,' and 'gets 
scandalous ministers to preach for him, as Mr. Elmer, now 
sequeftered, and one Richardson, a drunken minifter, and Mr. 
Wright, a sequeftered man, whom he kept in his house to 
secure him from the Parliament officers ; 3 one that ' in visiting 
the sicke (he) only useth the Common Prayer ; as, being sent 
for to one John Fowler, a very godly christian, in his sickness 
he told him it was just with God to lay that affliction on him 
for going from his miniftry;' one that 'at Mr. Whitgift's 
child's baptizing he had drunk so much as he ran his head 
againft the wall and then vomited ; ' one that ' at Colchefter 
he drank more than was fitt, and Mrs. Whitgift charged his 
man he should not speak of it, he being in his company a 
drinking ; ' two that ' at an ale-house in his own parish he 
continued half a day in disorderly drinking with John Baxter 
and John Gibson ; that Baxter's wife defired the constable to 
lay her husband by the heels, which he was loath to doe because 
the minifter was there, whereupon she went herself and broke 
the potts;' two that 'he refusecLto baptise the children of his 
parifhioners when they were presented to him in the church on 
the Lord's day forenoon,' and that ' he persecuted one Aron 



Appendix to Chap. VII. 219 

Little, a godly man, of his parifh, to his death, for going to 
heare the word of God at other places ; and when he was dead, 
he refused to bury him, and sent his son to forewarne the 
sexton not to make his grave, and yet exacted two shillings for 
his buriall.' The County Committee ordered his living to be 
sequestered. In February, 1645, Falconer had appealed against 
their decision to the Committee for Plundered Ministers, who 
were busy with his case, among others, up to April, 1646, 
when they ordered the £ committee of the Earl of Manchester 
to shew cause why the sequeftration should not be discharged ;' 
and in the next month, after the committee had been heard, it 
was decided that the sequestration should be confirmed. On 
the sequestration of the living by the Earl of Manchester, 
Gamaliel Carr had been appointed to the vacancy, and on the 
20th of June, 1646, that appointment was also confirmed."* 

Alphamstone. — See Memorials. 

Arkesden. — See Memorials. 

Ardleigh. — John Nettles, f 

Asheldham. — See Memorials. 

Barling. — William Williams was sequeftered before March, 
1645, as on the 25th of that month the committee iffue an order 
that Mrs. Williams is to have her fifths. Williams also held 
the cure of Shopland, which he still retained. J 

Belchamp Oten. — See Memorials. 

Bentley Great. — See Memorials. 

Birch Magna. — W. C. Collingwood. || 

BobbingwoPvTH. — Nicholas Searle. He was also rector or 



* Add. MSS. B. M. 15699, 38, 78, % Add. MSS. 15670, 945 15671, 94, 

325*386,5315 15670, 151,184. MSS. 671,81,94,98. 

Minutes of Committee, Coles' Coll. B. M. [| Walker, ii. 199, mentions the seques- 

xxviii. 45, 46. Falconer's name does not tration, but does not give the name. I 

occur in Nevvc. The Rev. C. Bannatyne find notice of it in Add. MSS. 15670, 

kindly informs me, from the parish re- 167, 271. Newcourt says that Colling- 

gister, that he died in 1653, and was wood voided by death, as he also did the 

buried at Aldham, Carr. infra. prebend of Holywell, to which he was 

f Instituted 21st May, 1642, per. resig. collated in August, 1660 — i. 162; see p. 

Honifold. N, ii. 13; Honifold, p. 160; 463. 
Add. MSS. 15669, 1885 infra. 



220 Appendix to Chap. VII. 

Widdington. Walker says that he was sequestered at Wid- 
dington, but he was there in 1650, and is described 'as an able 
preaching minifter.' It would seem that he was sequestered 
at Bobbingworth however, being a pluralift. * 

Borley. — Robert Warren. He was a pluralist, being also 
rector of Long Melford, in Suffolk, f 

Bradwell juxta Mare. — Giles Bury, who also held the 
prebend of Ealdland, in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul's. J 

Braxted Magna. — See Memorials. 

Brightlingsea. — See Memorials. 

Bursted Parva. — John Wells. || 

Butsbury. — Richard Foster. Articles were exhibited 
against him, November 29, 1645, when it was agreed between 
him and his parifhioners that he should leave, and the living 
was sequestered with his consent. § 

Canefield Magna. — The living was sequestered from 
Roger Flynt, 'for his delinquency against the Parliament, 
before May 22, 1645.' fl" 

Canewdon. — Elizaeus Burgess, who was also archdeacon 
of Rochester, had the living sequestered from him, Walker 
says, in 1644, for ' pluralities and non-residence,' and Cole, 
in his Manuscript additions to the ' Sufferings of the Clergy,' 
adds, that it was proved against him before the committee, 
' that he preached seldom, and (was) non-resident, neglected 
the observation of the monthly fasts, and refuseth to pay (the) 
assessments ordered by the Parliament.' ** 

Chelmsford.' — See Memorials. 

Chickney. — See Memorials. 

Chigwell. — On the 18th of January, 1641, the following 

* Walker ii. 357; Add. MSS. 15669, || Add. MSS. 156695 infra. 

601 ; infra. § Add. MSS. 15669, 508, 5095 infra. 

f Lansdowne MSS. 459} Walker ii. 9\ Add. MSS. 15669, 1655 infra. 

395. He had previously (1607 to 1618) ** Walker ii. 2005 Newcourtii. 121 ; 

been rector of Langenhoe. He survived Cole MSS. xxviii. 84 ; see also Add. 

the reftoration, recovered his living, and MSS. 15669, May 10, 1645. Burgess 

resigned before 22nd May, 1661. Newc. had been some years deceased in 1659. 

ii. 364, 77 ; see p. 456. Wood, Faft. ii. 135 ; see p. 424. 

J Newcourt i. 147 ; infra. 



x to Chap. VIL 221 

petition was presented to the Parliament, by the parifhioners in 
the parifh of Chigwell, against the rector : — c That Emmanuel 
Utey (sic), now rector, hath erected an altar in the said 
church, and doth use frequent and offensive bowing and 
cringing thereunto, compelling others to doe the like, and 
hath kissed the altar three times in one day, and doth con- 
stantly read the prayers in the divine service with his face 
turned towards the altar and backe towards the people, so 
that many of them cannot hear what is said. That the said 
vicar, openly in the pulpit of the said church, hath spoken 
these ensuing words, and words to the same effect, viz. : 
i. That his father's soule was in heaven, making interceffion 
for his, and that it was lawful to pray unto saints if the time 
would permit. 2. That the commands of the Archbifhop 
of Canterburie, whom he compared with the high priest, 
were equally to be obeyed with God's commands in His word. 
3. That the said vicar hath said that the King is not supreme 
head of the church next under Christ, and being demanded 
who then was, answered the Pope, and said further that no 
minister who understood himselfe would pray for the King as 
supreme head of the church under Christ, and that there hath 
been no true religion in England these forty yeares ; and 
being told he was a friend to the Pope, answered that he loved 
the Pope with all his heart, and affirmeth that the Pope is not 
antichrist, whoever he is. 4. That the said vicar hath 
declared that whatsoever any person who had entered into 
holy orders did speak, he spake by divine inspiration ; and 
being urged that then they differed not from those that wrote 
the Holy Scriptures, he made no answer to that, but impudently 
and blasphemously persifting in his former opinions, said 
further, that if the Divell (sic.) could have orders put upon 
him, whatsoever he should say should be by divine inspiration. 
5. That the said vicar should say, that if a man usually met 
with occasions of drunkenness or fornication, be actually over- 
come by them, yet such a man doth not sin, because he sought 
not the occasion. 6. That the said vicar hath been oftentimes 
seen drunk, and his wife hath reported that he is a papifl in 



222 Appendix to Chap. VIL 

heart, and did weare a crucifix in his bosom, and kept one in 
his study, and that he so bitterly threatened her for not bowing 
to it, as she was conflrained to cry out for helpe and hide 
herselfe. 7. And laftly, the said vicar hath said the House of 
Parliament hath nothing to do in matters of religion, but if 
any things are amisse, complaint ought to be made to the 
bifhops, and they were to reform it \ and hath also uttered 
many other such words tending to the dishonour of the High 
and Honourable Court of Parliament. All which premises 
containing popifh and superftitious ceremonies, corrupt and 
dangerous opinions of tenents (sic), contrarient to the estab- 
lifhed doctrine and discipline of the Church of England, 
scandalous and blasphemous words tending to the dishonour 
of Almighty God, and as they conceive the subversion of his 
Majefty's royal supremacy, and the abridgement of the power 
and the authority of the High and Honourable Court of 
Parliament, your petitioners humbly implore the suddaine 
removal of the said vicar, with a reformation of the said 
innovations, and such censure upon the offender as to the 
grave wisdom of this honourable assembly shall be thought 
meet.' * 

On the 1 st of February the House of Commons ordered 
that the Committee for Scandalous Minifters should begin to 
sit on the following day, and that this petition c is to be first 
considered by that committee.' The committee reported on 
the 8th of May, and the House then resolved: 'That Dr. 
Emmanuel Utie is a man of very scandalous and vicious life, 
corrupt, in his doctrine, superftitious in his practice, an 
incendiary, guilty of the words tending to blasphemy, of the 
words spoken that are very scandalous against the Parliament ;' 
and 'that Dr. Emmanuel Utie is unworthy to have and enjoy 
any ecclesiallical benefice or spiritual promotion, or to have 
care of souls.' Utie's living was not sequeftered, however, 

* Printed in the year 1641. King's Collections i. 719. Uty was inftituted to 

Pamphlets, Britifh Museum. Nalson the vicarage on the presentation of the 

mentions this petition, but speaks of it as Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, 31st 

if it were signed by only two persons. Jan., 161 5. 



Appendix to Chap. VII. 223 

until the 12th of July, 1643. * The sequeftration is thus 
reported in the Parliamentary document whose full title I have 
given in the note. 'The benefice of Emmanuel Utie, doctor 
in divinity, rector of the parish church of Chigwell, in the 
county of Essex, is sequeftered, for that he hath affirmed that 
there hath heene no true religion in England these forty years, 
and that he loved the Pope with all his heart; peremptorily 
maintaining that whatsoever men of holy orders speake, they 
speake by divine inspiration; and that if the Devil himself 
would have holy orders put upon him, he would be inspired by 
the Holy Ghost; and hath denied the King's supremacy, and ex- 
alted the power of the bifhops above the authority of the prince, 
affirming them to be the head of the church; and blasphe- 
mously broached c that the command of the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury was to he equally obeyed with the word of God; ' and hath 
declaimed against the authority of Parliament, and affirmed 
' that Parliament men are mechanicks and illiterate, and have 
nothing to doe to intermeddle in matters of religion." f 

Chingford. — John Russell. Depositions were taken against 
him at Ongar, 9th March, 1644, when he was charged with 
'cursing, swearing, and gaming.' % 

* Journals, House of Commons, 119, the vicarage allowed for her maintenance, 

134, 139, 148 ; ib. iii. 163. and that of her husband, after his seques- 

f TheFirft Century of Scandalous and tration. Add. MSS. 15669, March 22, 

Malignant Priefts made and admitted into 1645. Uty survived the reftoration, 

Benefices by the Prelates, in whose hands when he petitioned the King for the 

the Ordination of Minifters and Govern- living of Stepney, on the plea of his 

ment of the Church hath been ; or, a great sufferings. State Papers, Dom. 

Narrative of the causes for which the Ser, 1660 — 1661. He obtained the 

Parliament hath ordered the sequeftration living, and died about six months after his 

of the Benefices of several Minifters inftitution. Newcourt i. 741. 
complained of before them, for vicious- J Cole's MSS. xxviii. 81. He was 

ness of life, error in doctrine, contrary to inftituted 6th Dec, 1634. Newc. ii. 

the Articles of our Religion, and for 148. In 1660 he published a defence of 

practising and pressing Superfluous Inno- John Gauden's ' Analysis of the Cove- 

vat'ions againfl Laiv, and for malignancy nant,' 1660, entitled 'The Solemn League 

againft the Parliament. London, 1643. and Covenant discharged.' London, 4to. 

Walker has what professes to be a copy Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 313. Russell re- 

of the ordinance for Uty's sequeftration, covered his living at the reftoration, and 

under date March 3, 1642. Sufferings died before Jan. 1688. Newc. ib. 

of the Clergy i. 67 ; see also ib. ii. 357. Lyson's Environs i. 657 $ infra. 
Mrs. Uty had one-fifth of the income of 



224 Appendix to Chap. VII. 

Chishill Magna. — 'The benefice of Thomas King, vicar 
of the parish church of Chishill Magna, in the county of 
Essex, is sequeftered, for that he is a common frequenter of 
ale-houses and tavernes, and very frequently drunke, even 
upon fafting dayes and upon the Lord's day; and hath refused to 
deliver the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper for divers yeares to 
his parifhioners that would not come to the railes, having set up 
the table altar-wise, and used bowing and cringing to it, although 
they did, upon their knees, intreate at his hands in the chancell 
where they were wont before to receive it ; and hath deserted 
his cure for above three months, and did reade the Book of 
Sports in his said church for prophaning of the Sabbath.' * 

Clavering. — See Memorials. 

Colchester. — Samuel Cock, incumbent of St. Giles. De- 
positions were taken against him April 3, 1644., when three 
witnesses swore that ' he was unable for the miniftry,' and that 
'we desire that he may be tried by some judicious divines, 
videlicet, Mr. Owen, of Fordham, nigh Colchefter, and Mr. 
Ellis, of St. Peter's, in Colchefter, if my Lord pleases;' three 
that 'he hath of late taken another cure, and resides there;' 
three that 'at last Sacrament, after he had delivered (the) bread, 
and before he had delivered (the) wine, he read on in the 
Litany the conclusion of the Sacrament, till the clerk put him 
in mind he had not delivered (the) wine;' two that 'he had 
enforced the late innovations, compelling his parifhioners to 
come to the rails, persecuting them to excommunication;' and 
two that 'he did not prepare the people to take the covenant.' f 

Grinsted juxta Colchester. — John Jarvis. He was 
also reclor of North Fambridge. Depositions were taken 

* The Firft Century, p. 21. The f Cole MSS. xxviii. 71, 72. The 

return for Chishill Magna, in 1650, is minute adds, 'It is desired that a letter 

' noe settled minister, it being sequeftered may be sent to the Earl to acquaint him 

from Mr. Thomas King, the fault being with that minifter's insufficiency.' Ellis 

in the sequeftered, who hath received the was probably the 'holy Mr. Ellis,' an 

profitts some .... years. Lansdowne Independent. Edward's Gangraena ii. 21. 
MSS. 459. King died before Jan. 1661. 
Newcourt says he was sequeftered for his 
loyalty ! ii. 1505 see p. 450. 



The Sequeftrations. 225 

against him on the 2nd of April, 1644, when two witnesses 
affirmed on oath, that c he had often said, this Parliament are a 
company of factious fellows, who aim at nothing but their own 
ends;' one, that he said, 'that Parliament sought nothing but 
blood, inftancing Strafford and the Archbifhop;' three, that c he 
hath two benefices, this at Grinfted and another at North 
Fambridge ; ' three, that ' often his cure is wholly neglected on 
the Lord's day;' two, that c he is a common swearer;' and 
three, that he is 'of very idle conversation, a great frequenter 
of ale-houses, and associates with drunkards and profane per- 
sons.' Further depositions were taken on the 21st of June, 
when five witnesses declared on oath, that, ' Dr. Jarvis being a 
doc~tor of civil law is, as they who are his parifhioners doe 
verily believe, a very insufficient man for the miniftry, he not 
being able to deliver anything in his sermons more than what 
he reads out of his booke, pointing with his fingers, for the 
most part, to every line he reads; and the matter of his sermons 
also is very weake and unprofitable; and, for further discovery 
of his insufficiency, we desire that he may be tried by the Earl 
of Manchefter's chaplains, or some other able minifters in 
these parts;' and two, that c he is an excessive drinker, and 
that they have seen him often drunk.' These depositions were 
transmitted to the Committee for Plundered Minifters. Jarvis, 
it should appear, having appealed in the following May, 
was summoned to appear before them July 15, 1645. The 
case was then adjourned to August, when the sequeftration 
of both livings was confirmed. Jarvis, however, was allowed 
the fifth of the income of Fambridge, as being the richer 
living of the two. * 

Lexden. — Stephen Nettles. Depositions were taken against 
him at Halfted, August 16, 1644. Three witnesses swore 
to his being c a frequenter of taverns,' and five to his 'frequent- 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. 67, 72; Add. 9th Jan., 1638, on the same presentation. 

MSS. 15669,154,168,2835 15670,33, Newc. ii. 251,287. Jarvis died before 

169, 170, 194, 279. He was Inftituted 24th Oft., 1648. Journal H. of Lords 

at Fambridge, 1st February, 1630, on the x. 5635 North Fambridge ; infra, 
presentation of Charles I. ; and to Grinfted 



226 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. i. 

ing the company of light women ; ' three, to his c being a common 
swearer and user of bad language;' three, to his being 'an un- 
profitable preacher;' three, to his having 'neglected to take the 
covenant, wholly slighting it, saying we might take it if we 
would, or we might let it alone;' and One, to his having 'given 
it to the boys in the streets;' and six, to his 'having dinner 
parties on the fast days, and frequenting taverns and drinking 
in private houses on those days ; ' and one to his ' having bowls 
and foot-ball in his own yard on the same day.' The deposi- 
tions of nine of the witnesses are totally unfit for publication, 
and discover an extreme of immorality which is scarcely 
credible. Nettles resisted the sequeftration, and caused much 
trouble to his successor ; and it was not until August 14, 
1647, that he was compelled to yield. Nettles has an entry in 
the parish regifter as late as June 9, 1645. * 

Colchester. — Gabriel Honifold, re£tor of the parish, and 
mafter of the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen. The date of 
the depositions taken against him does not appear. Three 
witnesses swore that, ' having charge of the parish for twenty- 

* Seep. 160. He was born in Shrop- Marke Nettles luce sepultus erat.' Hie 

mire, admitted a pensioner in Queen's puer ille senex, parvi moriturus et ampli, | 

College, Cambridge, June 25, 1595, terra met, caelum spes mea Chrifto peto. 

and made fellow of the same Oct. 2, Maii 7, 1625, Stephen Nettles, presbyter 

1599. He took degrees in Arts, and Ecclesiae de Lexden et pater praedicti. 

afterwards proceeded B.D. He was the Marke Nettles memoriale hoc scripsit, 

author of the Answer to the Jewish part Junii 9, 1625.' He has also the following: 

of Selden's Hiftory of Tithes, printed ' Rex Carolus regnum per mortem perdidit 

1625, at Oxon, in 4to. Cole MSS. xxviii. Anglum, | ccelorum regnum morte beatis 

4 g — 52; Baker MSS. B. M. Harl. 7038, habet. — Scripsit idem, Feb. 10, 1659.' 

248. The courtesy of the Rev. J. King Charles by death did England's 

Papillon, the present rector of the parish, kingdom lose, | and blessed by death did 

has allowed me to search the regifters. heaven's kingdom choose. Morant says 

Nettles became rector about 161 1. There that his temporal eftate also was sequeftered 

are several entries, from which it appears for delinquency. Hist. Colchefter, 57. 

that he was an accomplifhed scholar. He Walker's statement that Nettles was dis- 

enters the burial of his son, Mark Nettles, possessed by force of arms will be explained 

thus: 'Quo die celebratum est etiom by the protracted resiftance which he 

funus serenissimi regis Jacobi, theologorum offered to the sequeftration — ii. 318. He 

patroni indulgentissimi. Qua Jacobus erat was incorporated of Oxford in 1624 

rex magnus luce sepultus, | hac quoque Wood, Fasti, i. 228 ; infra. 



The Sequeft rations. 227 

eight years, he preached but seldom, and that unprofitably ; ' 
three, that c he had been non-resident this year and a half past, 
and hath not preached there since ; ' two, that he ' placed as a 
subftitute there a pluralist, who preaches there but once a 
fortnight ;' two, that he was c a common swearer;' and two, 
that he 'ordinarily played cards and tables on the Lord's day,' 
one of them adding that he 'enticed him often to play.' * 

Colchester. — Thomas Newcomen, rector of Trinity. 
Depositions appear to have been taken against him at the same 
time with Honifold. Two witnesses swore that 'he had been 
non-resident this nineteen months last past,' and that 'when in 
towne he preached very seldom for some months before;' and 
since 'his cure (sic.) we have been totally unprovided for;' 
two, that in preaching he said ' the Scots were damnable rebels 
for invading the kingdom — gathering where they scattered not, 
and reaping where they sowed not,' and that 'at other times 
he affirmed (sic.) to be rebels and traitors;' two, (one of whom 
was the father) that 'a child being brought to him to be 
baptized, not being suffered to crosse it, (he) used these words : 
'we doe not receive this child into the congregation of Christ's 
faith, neither doe with (sic.) sign it with the sign of the crosse 
in token that hereafter it shall be afhamed,' and perverting the 
form of that part of the Liturgy;' three, 'that he insifted upon 
his parifhioners coming to the railes, and convented those who 
would not kneel ; ' and two, that ' he had been carried to prison 
as an actor at Sir John Lucas' house, as an assiftant to him in 
promoting his design, as is supposed, when he provided and 

* pp. 160,219. Cole MSS. xxviii. 65, wondered how he would offer to come 

66. Mercurius Rufticus, ii. 12. Walker abroad, being a man so much hated. . . . 

makes him to be Vicar of Ardleigh In his returne a multitude thronge about 

when he was sequeftered, ii. 264 ; but he him ... a kinsman opens his doors to 

had resigned that living before May, afford him shelter . . . ; like so many 

1642. Newc. ii. 12. He was evidently bears robbed of their whelpes, they double 

very unpopular in the town. During the their rage ... he goes out . . . at laft 

difturbances, a contemporary says : < They ... he took the common gaol for his 

rifle his house of all . . . leave not a sanctuary.' Mercurius Rufticus ii. 12. 

shelf behind them, nor a pin to hang a Some allowance muft be made for Bruno 

hat on.' He fled to Cole, the mayor, to Ryves. 
defend him. One present told him he 

Q 2 



228 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. I. 

attempted to carry horses and ammunition to the cavaliers at 
Nottingham.' * 

Colne White. — See Memorials. 

Corringham. -—William Blunt. c Ordered that the rectory 
of Corringham stand sequeftered from William Blunt for his 
malignancy against the Parliament, Sept. 18th, 1645.' f 

Dagenham. — Charles Trew was sequeftered by order of 
the House of Commons, 9th October, 1643. In February, 

1644, he complained to the Committee that there were arrears 
due to him. Measures had then already been taken to recover 
his rights. Mrs. Trew (sic.) also complained, in May, 1645, 
that she could not obtain her fifths. This was also ultimately 
settled by the Committee. J 

Danbury. — See Memorials. 

Debden. — Thomas Wilson. He was also rector of Wim- 
bish; also held the prebend of Neasden, in the Cathedral of St. 
Paul's, and another prebend at Westminster, and was at the 
same time Archdeacon of Westminster. Walker adds to the 
list of his preferments the rectory of Pulborough, in Sussex. 
Depositions were taken against him April 2, 1644, when 
two witnesses deposed that c he was a pluralist holding three 

* P.203. Cole MSS. xxviii. 70, 71 5 he petitioned the King for the dignity of 

see p. 210. Newcomen had been D.D., as 'a great sufferer for his loyalty 

indicted by one Burrows, for refusing to and a true sonne of the church.' State 

adminifter the sacrament at the rails. Paper Office, Dom. Ser. 1660 — 1661. 

The indictment was thrown out, and According to Walker, his petition was 

Burrows was called into the High Com- successful. Mercurius Rufticus ii. 12. 

mission Court for it by Laud. Laud's f Add. MSS. 15669, 329. He had 

Troubles and Tryals, 260. In August, been presented by Sir Edward Spencer, 

1645, Newcomen petitioned the com- the lord of the manor, before 31st Jan., 
mittee for the recovery of some tithes 1 644, in whose favour the Committee for 
that were due to him, and measures were Plundered Minifters discharged a presenta- 
taken to secure him his rights. Add. tion of their own. Five witnesses were 
MSS. 15669, 259. Both Walker ii. examined againft him, May 29, 1645. 
518, and Newcourt ii. 182, make him to Add. MSS. 15669, 158; infra. 

have been sequeftered in 1642, and for f Journals iii. 270. He was inftituted 

his loyalty. But he was evidently suffered 22nd Nov., 1641, on the presentation of 

to return to his living after his conviction, Laud, see p. 333. Add. MSS. 15669, 

at the same time with Sir John Lucas. 212, 275 ; infra. 
Newcomen survived the reftoration, when 



The Sequeflrations. 229 

benefices, viz., Debden, Wimbish, and Ffulborne, where his 
family live ; ' two, to his ' having been non-resident ever since 
he had (the living), being about twelve or thirteen yeares, 
never coming there, for the most part, but to receive money 
or compound for his tithes;' two, that c he employed a curate 
who hath not, for the more part, preached more than once a 
Sabbath and on fasts;' three, that c he was so notorious an 
innovator that he set up railes at his own expense, and that a 
year or two before any injunction;' two, that 'he bowed to the 
east and at the name of Jesus ; ' two, that ' he was a known 
delinquent, and his estate sequestered and himself apprehended, 
but where he is we know not.' To these depositions Wilson 
returned no answer. On the 18th of June, 1646, Mrs. 
Wilson complained that she could not get her fifths. The 
case, it should appear, was finally decided in the June 
following. * 

Dovercourt. — Charles Brainbrigg. '2nd 0£tober, 1643. 
Upon the humble petition of the inhabitants of Harwich it is 
ordained that Mr. Wood, a learned and orthodox divine, who 
came lately out of Ireland, and hath often preached at Harwich, 
and given good testimony of his ability, shall preach there in 
the parish church of Dovercourt cum Harwich, and supply the 
place of Mr. Brainbrigge, vicar of the said parish, who hath 
these fourteen weeks been absent from the vicarage; and that 
the said Mr. Woods shall receive the profits from time to time 
belonging to the said vicarage, and the inhabitants there are 
enjoined to pay the same accordingly.' The living was sub- 
sequently dealt with as a sequeftration. f 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. 68, 69. Add. S.T.P. The date of his inftitution to 

MSS. 15670, 131, 183, Wilson was Wimbish does not appear. He was ap- 

originally of Merton College, Oxford, prehended and convicted as a political 

and became B.D., 1621, when he was delinquent. Cole MSS. xxviii. 75. 

already prebendary of St. Paul's, and had The rectory of Wimbish is a sinecure. 

been sub-almoner to Montague, Bishop The return in 1650 is, 'the rent of it is 

of Chefter. He was inftalled to his paid to Mr. John May, the sequestrator 

prebend at Weftminfter in 1625, and for the county.' Lansdowne MSS. 459. 

became archdeacon in 1640. Wood, See Takeley, infra; Wimbim, infra. 
Fast. ii. 46; Newc. i. 186. He was f Journal House of Commons iii. 361 ; 

inftituted to Debden, 22nd Dec, 1629, Add. MSS. 15670, 259; see p. 470. 
on the presentation of Robert Nowell, 



230 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 1. 

Dunmow Magna. — See Memorials. 

Dunton. — John Norton. * 

Easthorpe. — Thomas Johnson. His case was under the 
consideration of the Committee for Plundered Miniflers from 
January 27, 1645, to June 2, 1646, at which last date, he not 
appearing to answer to the charges brought against him, and 
which had already been examined by the Committee at Col- 
chefter, his rectory was sequeflered, it being proved that he was 
c a frequenter of taverns, a tipler, often drunke, and a prophaner 
of the holy name of God by swearing by it.' f 

Easton Magna. — See Memorials. 

Easter High. — See Memorials; Wickham, St. Paul's. 

Epping. — See Memorials. 

Falkbourne. — See Memorials. 

Fambridge North. — See Grinfted, near Colchefter, p. 224. 

Fambridge South. — John Vicars. Depositions were taken 
against him at Maiden, 16th April, 1644, when it was sworn 
that c he was non-resident, and kept a drunken curate, who was 
suspected to be a Romish priest.' J 

Fering. — See Memorials. 

Fincringhoe. — See Memorials. 

Fobbing. — Sampson Johnson. 'May 13, 1645. Dr. 
Johnson hath deserted the church at Fobbing, and is gone 
beyond sea, where he employeth himself against the Parliament; 
his living therefore is sequeflered.' || 

Foulness. — Robofhobery Dove. Cole gives the following 
account of the depositions taken against him : At Maiden, 17th 

* See page 1595 Add. MSS. 15669, ftituted to the rectory 20th Nov., 1 641. 

April 12, 1645; Cole MSS. xv. 162. He recovered his living at the reftoration, 

In both cases the sequeftration is only and died before 1 6th April, 1669. Newc. 

incidentally referred to. Norton's name ii. 2395 infra. 

does not occur in Newcourt. The Rev. % Cole MSS. xxviii. He was inftituted 

C. Berkeley obliges me with several ex- 30th May, 1640. Newc. ii. 254. 

tracts from the parish regifter relating to || Add. MSS. 15669. He is possibly 

his family, the date of the latest of which the same person with the vicar of Stebbing, 

is 19th July, 1640. infra. Johnson died before June 19, 

f Add. MSS. 15669, 152, 217, 230, 1661. Extracts from Juxon's regifter 

366} 15670, 29, 173, 194. He was in- MSS. B. M. Harl. 6100, 186: infra. 



The Seque/irations. 231 

April, 1644, before Sir Richard Everard, Sir W. Mafham, 
Carew H. Mildmay, and others. The charges were 'drunken- 
ness, conformity, and affection to the King's cause;' an account 
which some of the depositions previously given at length 
will sufficiently explain. * 

Frierning. — William Peyton. Sequeftered in 1644. He 
seems to have resided the sequeftration, and afterwards to have 
had some trouble about his fifths. All was not finally settled 
in November, 1645. f 

Fyfield. — See Memorials. 

Gingrave. — Simon Jackaman. He was also rector of Weft 
Horndon. J 

Goldhanger. — William Sweno. His family had difficulty 
about their fifths, which was not finally settled until June, 

1646. ii 

Gosfield. — John Crosse. Depositions were taken againft 
him May 1, 1644 ; when two witnesses gave evidence that 
' he was negligent in preaching, many Sabbaths not preaching 
even by proxy, except of late, when the towne procured one, 
saying, preaching is but man's ordinance ; ' and that c he read 
the propositions coming from the King, encouraging men there- 
fore to give money for war againft the Parliament:' two, who 
were the churchwardens, that c he urged the Book of Sports, 
and that the booke being loft, he threatened them with the 
High Commission because they brought him not another to read,' 
and that he 'usually suffered prophaning sports by the youth 
on the Lord's day;' one, that he had said to him that 'the 
Sabbath is no longer to be observed than he is reading divine 
service, and that on any other part of the day men may take 

* MSS. xxviii. 84. Walker ii. 281, who so far confirmed by 

f Cole xxviii. 755 Add. MSS. 15669, the reference to Jackaman's successor, 

2 5^» 332, 333, 394, 401. He was in- Infra. Jackaman died before 9th Oct., 

stituted to the rectory 4th Feb., 1632, on 1643. N. ii. 282, 342. 

the presentation of Wadham College, || Add. MSS. 15670, 34, 270, 306, 

Oxford. Newc. ii. 278; see p. 420. 316. He recovered the living at the 

% Inftituted at Gingrave 9th Oct., reftoration, and died before 7th May, 

1638, and at Horndon 9th Nov., 1638. 1679. Newc. ii. 284; see p. 474. 
I have no further authority for this than 



232 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 1. 

their liberty, and that holy days ought to be kept as well as 
the Sabbath,' and that c when the communion table was to be 
rayled in and set altar-wise, he afking him, why he was so 
forward to charge the towne in bringing in such an innovation 
before it was in other parifhes, he answered, c we shall be the 
nrft that shall worfhip -, ' two, that c he was very active and 
strict to observe the late innovations .... preaching with his 
surplice, hood, and tippett, without prayer at the end of the 
sermon ;' three, that c one Mr. Wems preaching there, he would 
not suffer him to make any prayer after his sermon, but pulled 
the pulpit dore open twice, whereon the cufhion lay so as the 
minifter was in danger to fall down and spoile himselfe \ and 
three, that 'when the godly minifters preached, then he would 
usually looke upon them and jeere at them whileft they were 
in their sermon.' Crosse appealed to the Committee for 
Plundered Minifters. The case was re-heard before Auguft, 
1645, and the sequeftration was confirmed. * 

Grinsted juxta Ongar. — Andrew Harward. Articles 
were exhibited againft him before the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters January 31, 1645. He was sequeftered before May 
9, 1646.1 

Thomas Punter. J 

Hadstock. — Edward Young. He was also rector of 
Haidon, and it should appear that he further held the rectory 
of Anftie, in Hertfordfhire. Walker adds to these preferments, 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. 28, 29 5 Add. promised one of his parishioners a sermon 

MSS. 15669, 2705 Lansdowne MSS. at his wedding,' ... the remainder is 

459 5 infra. unfit for publication. If Cole be right in 

■f Add. MSS. 15669, 31, 27^, 315, his identification of Punter, he must 

329, 404, 521 . 15670, 171 ; infra. have been inftituted at Ongar, notwith- 

J That Punter was sequeftered seems standing his conviction before the com- 
to be clear. Infra. Cole gives the fol- mittee when only a curate, as the date of 
lowing from the committee book of the his admission is 19th June, 1646, and his 
date of 1 644 : ' Mr. Punter, curate of sequeftration probably followed as soon as 
Haydon and Hadstock, that he is a the fact had reached the ears of the corn- 
common ale-house haunter, harbours mittee. Cole xxviii. 86. He survived 
malignant minifters, refused to take the the reftoration, when he resigned the 
covenant, negligent in keeping the Par- living. Newc. ii. 289. MSS. extracts 
liament fafts, observed illegal innovations, from Juxon's regifter, Britim Museum. 



The Sequejlrations. 233 

the archdeaconry of Exeter, a prebend at Exeter, and also a 
prebend and two canonries at Norwich. Articles were ex- 
hibited againft him at Trinity College, Cambridge, July 16, 
1644. Walker's statement that 'he was turned out for plurality 
and non-refidence,' may well be true, but it only applies to 
Hadftock ; he still retained the rectory of Haidon. * 

Hallingbury Magna. — Edward Thurman. c The bene- 
fice of Edward Thur?nan, rector of the parifh church of 
Hallingbury, in the county of Essex, is sequeftered for that he 
is a common drunkard, and hath prevented his parifhioners 
from going from their own church to heare sermons, when 
they had none at home ; and hath affirmed that he would drive 
away all the Puritans out of his parish , and enforced his 
parifhioners to come to the railes, and hath wholly deserted 
his said cure for the space of half a year now laft part.' f 

Hallingbury Parva. — Fifher. % 

Halsted. — See Memorials. 

Ham East. — William Fairfax. He was also rector of St. 
Peter's, Cornhill, London. c The benefices of William Fairefax^ 
doctor in divinity, rector, are sequeftered, for that he hath 
refused to deliver the sacrament of the Lord's Supper to such 
of his parifhioners as refused to come up to the railes ; and 
refused to let his parifh have a lecturer on the Lord's day, in 
the afternoon, except he might have fifty pounds given him 
for the same ; and for the space of eight yeares refused to let 
his parifhioners have a lecture on a weeke day, which was 
appointed, and maintenance for the same given by the will 

* Infra. Walker ii. 25, 410; Cole dean of Exeter in 1662, and at the same 

MSS. xxviii. 75 ; Newc. i. 797 ; see also time obtained the rich living of Up- 

infra. Young was inftituted to the re&ory Leman, in Devon. He died in 1633. 

of Hadftock 20th March, 1637, on the Wood, Fafti. i. 281 j Walker ii. 27 ; 

presentation of the Bifhop of Ely. The infra. 

date of his institution to Haidon does f The Firft Century 5. He was infti- 

not appear. Newc. ii. 292, 294. Young tuted 30th Sept., 1629. Died before the 

survived the reftoration, when he was reftoration. Newc. ii. 296. Infra, 

made canon-residentiary at Exeter, in £ Add. MSS. May 13, July 15, Aug. 

1660, recovered his archdeaconry, and 14,16475 1 5671, see infra, 
also his prebend at Norwich, was made 



234 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. i. 

of the dead ; and useth to prophane the Sabbath day by playing 
at cards, and hath often been drunke in ale-houses and other 
places, and usually seeketh and haunteth the companv of 
women notoriously suspected of incontinency, and intrudes 
himselfe into their company, and into the company of other 
women walking alone in the streets in the dark and in the 
twilight, and tempteth them . . . leading them into dark 
places and into tavernes . . . and hath expressed great malignity 
againfl: the Parliament, and charged the Parliament to be the 
cause of all the trouble and difturbances in the kingdom, and 
hath greatly neglected his cure, and in his absence hath pro- 
vided scandalous ministers to supply the same.' * 

Hanningfield South. — See Memorials. 

Hanningfield West. — Edward Aylmer. I give this 
sequeftration on the evidence of the depositions taken againfl 
Daniel Falconer, of Aldham. f 

Hatfield Broad Oak. — See Memorials. 

Hedingham Sible. — John Jegon. WitnefTes were exa- 
mined againft him at Halsted, 20th March, 1643, when four 
deposed on oath, that ' he was very active in setting up the 
rayles, endeavouring to compel his people to come up to the 
same by courtening (sic.) of them; threatening to resign if 
these factious fellows (were) not punished ; to persuade them 
to go to it he coated (sic.) Matt. xv. 12, 15, and John xv. 29, 
denying to publifh the absolution, whereupon divers left the 

* The First Century, 7. He was of f P. 352, 417. Aylmer was M. A. 

the University of Oxford. Wood, Fast. i. of Queen's College, Cambridge. 'He was 

226. The dates of his inftitutions do not created D.D. (at Oxford, 1645), by virtue 

appear. Newcourt says he was sequeftered of the letters from the Chancellor of the 

for his loyalty ! i. 526. Walker and University and Prince Rupert. This per- 

Wood say that after his sequeftration son, who was grandson to John Aylmer, 

Fairfax was imprisoned in Ely House, in sometime Bilhop of London, being forced 

the Tower, and on ship-board, and that he from his station by the barbarities of the 

died in 1659 — ii. 161. The ledture Presbyterians, took refuge in Oxon, and 

which he refused to have filled up was under the said Prince.' Wood, Fast. ii. 

augmented by Jane Nevill, Countess of 53. Aylmer was inftituted to the rectory 

Weftmoreland, in July, 1641. Morant 4th Nov., 1630, on the presentation of 

i. 14. his father, A. Aylmer, D.D., and died 

before the reftoration. Newc. ii. 310. 



The Sequeflrations. 235 

towne ; ' and that he c was negligent in preaching till this Par- 
liament, and when he did, he prefTed bowing to the name of 
Jesus, coating for it Is. xiv. 23, and from thence inferred that 
the refusers made God foresworne, and delivered other dan- 
gerous pointes of doctrine ; his curates being moft of them also 
scandalous : ' one, that c he often inveighed against godly minis- 
ters in private, naming Marfhall, Rogers, Brewer, and Sutton;' 
three, that ' ordinarily in his sermons he railed against profefTors 
generally, terming them spirit-mongers, puritans, and people of 
phantastical spirit ; ' three, that ' he delivered in a sermon that 
God had mercy on Judas, in that he sent him not to hell but to 
his own place;' three, who were his servants, that 'he often 
swears by his faith and troth ;' two, that he ' is a prophaner of 
the Sabbath day, sending his servants usually on errands ; and 
one day left his wife and servants to bag hops when (he) him- 
self went to evening prayer, and threatened to cudgell his man 
to it, because he argued the unlawfulness of it ; and these hops 
were the same day weighed and carted towards Bury:' three, 
that c he is an upholder of ale-houses in his parish, reproving in 
his sermons the officers that would have supprefTed them ; ' 
three, that 'in his sermon he said, he saw little or no difference 
between the papists and us in matters of religion;' two, that 
' he blamed the Parliament for raising arms, and the county of 
EfTex for their forward contributions ; ' one, that ' he said that 
bishops would rise to a greater power than they had before, 
and then he would plague his parifhioners worse than ever ; ' 
two, that ' about three weeks since he said in his sermon, out 
of Rom. xiii., that the profefTors in these times are the chief in 
making the cumbustion in the kingdom ; ' one, that ' the same 
day the railes were pulled up he said, it was a pity the Bible 
was ever translated into English ;' and two, that ' he did very 
seldom pray in his familie or read the Scriptures to them.' 
Further evidence was taken againft Jegon on the 4th of April, 
when one witness deposed that ' Mr. Jegon sent for him the 
laft April fait, and employed him the moil part of that day and 
next in copying his depofitions ;' another, that ' laft September 
three years, Mr. Jegon commanded (him) and his brother, who 



236 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 1. 

wrought with him, to bag his hops on the Lord's day, just after 
dinner, and about sundowne the same day he caused them to 
be carried to the rode where a carte was to take them up ;' 
another, that c Mr. Jegon's sonne said that his father's hops 
were a bagging at the time they went to church in the after- 
noon .... and that the said hops were at Sturbridge faire \ ' 
another, that c he said 'twas pitty that ever the Bible was trans- 
lated into Englifh, for now ever} 7- woman and beggarly fellow 
thinke themselves able to dispute with reverend divines ; ' and 
another, that, ' passing by Mr. Jegon's stable dore, he heard 
him sware by God.' The second depofitions were evidently 
taken after Jegon had sent in his written answer to the firft. 
On the 13th of February, 1644, the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters make this entry in their minute book : c The com- 
mittee were informed that articles had been exhibited againft 
John Jegon .... and that the Earl of Manchefter had iiTued 
a sequeftration, but that on information fmce given him that 
Jegon was released by this committee, his lordfhip withdrew 
the sequeftration ; but this committee did not release, they 
then had not the power, thev only suspended the case. The 
Earl of Manchefter is to be made acquainted with this, and the 
committee are to send to this committee all their depofitions, 
that juftice may be done.' Nine days afterwards the Committee 
resolved, c The cause now having been further heard, and 
report had, the committee order that Jegon should be dis- 
charged.' * 

Henny Magna. — Charles Forbenck. c The benefice of 
Charles Forbench, parson of Hennv, was sequeftered because 
he is a common swearer, oftentimes breaking forth into fearful 
oathes and imprecations, and verv carelesse of his paftoral 
function, and wholly negleclieth the observing of the monethlv 
fast, setting his men to plou, himselfe also working on these 
dayes in the fields ; and hath affirmed that the Earle of Strafford 
was no traitor^ and that he was put to death wrongfully by the 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. 8, 9, 20, 21; 13th Oft., 1638. He survived the refto- 
Add. MSS. 15669. Jegon was still reftor ration, and died before June, 1672. N. 
in 1650. Infra. Jegon was inftituted ii. 324; see ante. 160. 



The Sequef rations. 237 

Parliament/ The sequeftration took place under an order of 
the House of Commons, 28th October, 1643. * 

Holland Magna.— Edward Cherry. 'The benefice of 
Edward Cherry, rector of the parish church of Much Holland, 
in the county of Essex, is sequeftered for that he usually boweth 
twelve times toward the east, when he goeth into the chancell; 
and his sermons, which were rarely more than once a moneth, 
mostly tend to the upholding and pressing of that and the like 
superftitious innovations; and hath refused to give the Sacrament 
to those of his parifhioners that would not come up to the railes 
to receive it; and hath taught, in his sermons, that baptism 
washeth away originall sinne, and that all men may he saved if 
they will and have free will thereunto; and hath been very often 
drunk; and, afterwards, that a man may more lawfully play, 
game, and drink In an ale-house on the Sunday than on other day ; 
and hath publifhed a very scandalous libell against the Earle of 
Essex, Earle of Warwick, and Earle of Holland; and hath 
affirmed that he never knew any good the Parliament did, unlesse 
it were to roh their country and pick their purses; and hath 
deserted the said cure for above a year last past, leaving the 
same wholly unsupplied, and is reputed to have betaken himself 
to the army raised against the Parliament.' The order for the 
sequeftration bears date October 21, 1643. f 

Horksley Magna. — Thomas Eyre. He was a pluralist, 
being also rector of Milend, Colchefter. % 

* The First Century, 3; Journals of Dec, 1633, on the presentation of the 

the House of Commons iii. 292. Walker Earl of Rivers. He recovered his living 

says that after his sequeftration Forbench at the reftoration, and died before Nov., 

served the small cures of Sandford and 1678. N. ii. 333 . Newcourt and 

Islep, near Oxon, and that 'whilst he was Walker ii. 288, say that he was seques- 

resident in these cures .... he was im- tered for his loyalty ! See infra, 
prisoned at Woodftock for reading the J P. 161. Add. M. 15670, 103. He 

Common Prayer' — ii. 242. He was in- was inftituted 31st March, 1642, on the 

stituted to the rectory 8th Aug., 1634. presentation of Sir John Lucas, on whose 

He was restored to the living in 1660, presentation he had been inftituted to 

and died before the 22nd June, 1666. Milend, on 27th Sept. previously. Walker 

Newc. ii. 327. Newcourt says he was says he was sequestered at Milend, ii. 

sequeftered for his loyalty ! 237, but he was still there in 1650. 

j The Firft Century, 3. Journ. Ho. Laud. M. 459 j see Birch, infra. 
Com. iii. 285. He was inftituted 13th 



238 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 1. 

Hornchurch. — See Rawreth. 

Horndon on the Hill. — John Hurt. 'The benefice of 
John Hurt, vicar of the parish church of Horndon on the Hill, 
in the county of Essex, is sequeftered for that he is a common 
frequenter of taverns and ale-houses, and a common drunkard 
and gamefter, a common swearer and curser, and hath been 
convicted before the juftice of peace for six oaths at a time, 
and then swore by God he did not sweare, and hath a very evill 
report of uncleanness .... and hath spoken barely of the 
Parliament, and expressed malignancy against the same ; and 
taught his parifhioners on fast days, in the afternoon, to follow 
their worldly occasions, and used himselfe then to spend that 
time in the ale-house.' * 

Horndon West. — See Gingrave, p. 231. 

Kelvedon Hatch. — See Memorials. 

Kirby. — See Memorials. 

Laingdon cum Basildon. — William Haywood. He was 
also recfor of St. Giles' in the Fields, London, canon of the 
eleventh stall at Weftminfter, and held the prebend of Cham- 
berlain Wood in the cathedral church of St. Paul's. He had 
left his cure and joined the King at Oxford, f 

Lambourne. — Lodovick Weemes. He also held a prebend 
at Westminster, and Walker adds that he was incumbent of 
Gedney, in Lincolnfliire. He was summoned before the 
House of Lords on the 23rd of March, 1643, but not ap- 
pearing, the House taking this as a contempt, proceeded in the 
cause, and heard the proof of the witnesses. It was found that 
he had neglected his cure, and had said c that this Parliament 
was no Parliament, that most of the best and the wisest lords 

* The First Century, 46. The date Ely House, and the ships, 49. He had 

of his institution does not appear. New- been one of Laud's domestic chaplains, 

court also says of Hurt, that he was se- and was also chaplain in ordinary to the 

questered for his loyalty! ii. 543. Add. King. He published some sermons. He 

MSS. 15670,95. See p. 409. recovered his preferments at the restora- 

f Add. MSS. 1 5 67 1, 189 ; Newcourt tion, and was buried at Westminster, July 

ii. 357; i. 613; Wood, Fasti. 57. The 17, 1662. Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 3245 

author of { Persecutio Undecima ' says that infra, 
he was also imprisoned in the Compter, 



The Sequejirations. 239 

were with the King, and both of the Houses were led by a few 
fanatical Lords and Commons.' For these misdemeanors the 
Lords adjudged ' that he should be sequestered from the profits 
of Lambourne, and from his officiating there during the pleasure 
of this House.' He was also attached for his contempt. 
Weemes afterwards appealed to the Committee for Plundered 
Ministers. The committee resolved (August 12, 1645), c that 
the sequestration having been done by the Lords they cannot 
interfere.' * 

Laingdon Hills. — See Memorials. 

Langenhoe. — See Memorials. 

St. Lawrence. — Edward Turner. c The benefice of Ed- 
ward Turner, parson of the parifh church of St. Lawrence, 
in the county of Essex, is sequestered, for that he is a common 
swearer and ale-house haunter, and strong to bear strong drink, 
and useth to sit four or six hours together tipling at taverns, 
sometimes whole days and nights tipling and drinking, and 
sometimes drunke, a common practiser of the late illegal 
innovations, and hath deserted his cure for the space of a yeare 
now last past.' f 

Laver Magdalen. — See Memorials. 

Littlebury. — Henry Tucker, vicar. { 

Maunden. — Samuel Southen. c The benefice of Samuel 
Southen, vicar of the parifh church of Manudine, in the 
county of Essex, is sequestered for that he is a common 
haunter of ale-houses and taverns, and often drunke upon the 
Lord's day, and is a common provoker of others to drinke 
excessively, rejoicing when he had made them drunke ; and 

* Journal H. of L. vi., see also vii. 759; sentation of Charles I. Newc. ii. 373 j 

Journal H. of C. iii. 56 — 62 ; Add. MSS. see p. 429. 

15669, 200, 263; Newc. i. 925; % Add. MSS. 15671, Oct. 1,1647; 

Walker ii. 91. He died before the Lansdowne, 459. Walker suggests that 

restoration. MSS. extracts from Juxon's Christopher Green, the rector, was also 

register, B. M. ; Newc. ii. 360 ; Wood, sequestrated, but I find no evidence of it, 

Fast. ii. 46 ; infra. ii. 251. Tucker was instituted 21st 

f The First Century, 28. Add. MSS. April, 1629, on the presentation of 

15669, Ap. 29, 1645. He was insti- William Green. Newc. ii. 394; infra, 
tuted 30th September, 1639, on the pre- 



240 Appendix to Chap. VII No. 1. 

is a common swearer and curser, and hath refused to deliver 
the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to his parifhioners that 
would not come to the railes to receive it, and useth to bow 
to the elements in the Sacrament, lifting them up and em- 
bracing them, and hath administered the Sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper in one kind only, and preached in maintenance 
thereof, and hath been a diligent pra£liser of the late inno- 
vation, and persuader of others thereunto ; and hath frequently 
enveighed against painfull preachers and their hearers, com- 
paring them to pedlars and ballad singers that have much 
company, when rich merchants have but few ; and hath per- 
secuted his parifhioners even to excommunication, for going 
to heare sermons at other churches on the Lord's day afternoone, 
when they had none at home, and hath expressed great 
malignity against the Parliament, and is vehemently suspected 
of ... . and hath been several times presented to the Eccle- 
siastical Court by the churchwardens and sidesmen for the 
same.' * 

Maplested Magna. Edward Shepard. He also held 
the living in fee by purchase. Depositions were taken against 
him at Halsted, March 22, 1643, when two witnesses, who 
were the parifh sextons, swore 'that while the rayles stood he 
ordinarily prayed at it, with his face to the east, bowing towards 
it before he came at it ; ' two, ' that he was not fitted for the 
ministry,' having a ' very bad utterance,' and being of ' weake 
memory ; ' two, that c he said it was never a merry world since 
there was so much preaching, for now all hospitality and good 
fellowfhip was laid abed:' further saying 'that Mr. Brewer fa 
very diligent preacher upon all occasions), was a railer, and 
preached that which was false ; ' three, that ' catechizing the 
youth before the Sacrament, he taught there were seven sacra- 
ments, as, first, marriage — secondly, churching of women — 
thirdly, penance — fourthly, burials — fifthly, taking up of lands 

* The Firft Century, 48. Instituted Maghedana, Menghedana, Magellana, 

6th October, 1630, 'The name is and is vulgarly called Mallendine.' 

written in records in these various Mor. ii. 619. 
ways, Manuden, Manewdon, Mangden, 



The Sequejlrations. 241 

by a clover with a white rod stuck in it ;' three, that he 
taught that c souls went to three places, some to heaven, some 
to hell, and some to a middle place, from which they might 
be resolved by prayer ; ' two, that ( when he read the vow and 
covenant on the Sabbath, as they remember, he took it not then 
but on a weeke day — he took it with some of his parifhioners, 
with these limitations, ' so far as it was agreeable to the word 
of God and not contrary to the former protestation and oath 
of allegiance' — and also 'that on the Sabbath afore, William 
Laverick offering to take the vow and covenant after the 
reading of it, and desiring to subscribe his name, he would 
not suffer it to be done.' Further depofitions were taken 
against him on the 8th of April, when one witness swore, 
c that being churchwarden, Mr. Shepard would have him 
present his parifhioners because they went to other churches, 
which this deponent refused to doe, telling him his people 
delighted not to heare him, because he made no application of 
his doctrine, and did not reprove sinners.' Mr. Shepard replied, 
' he knew no whoremongers, drunkards, nor such like in his 
parifh, and what should he do rayling in the pulpit ;' two, 
that ' upon Parliament's firft taking up arms, Mr. Shepard, 
divers Sabbaths in pulpit, dissuaded from enlistment, saying 
he knew not whether Parliament or King were for the truth ; ' 
one, 'that being afked why he discouraged enlistment, he said, 
shall I stand for Parliament when they stand not for me ? ' and 
one, that ' he told this deponent in private what the three 
previous witnesses had deposed to his saying in public' 
'Sixteen women of the parifh/ also, 'some of good sort came 
to the committee to defire a godly minister, affirming Mr. 
Shepard altogether unfit to be a minister.' * 

Maplestead Parva. — John Chamberlain. Depositions 
were taken against him April 9, 1644, when one witness 
gave evidence that, 'it was deposed on oath, before coroner's 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. 11, 12, 20, 21, Shepherd was inftituted 6th July, 1639, 

22 ; Lansdowne MSS. 459. One of on the presentation of Thomas Shepherd, 

the witnesses was Will. Harrington, of See infra. 
Walasses, for whom see Mor. ii. 279. 



24.2 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. i. 

inquest, that Mr. Chamberlain was in the ale-house from two 
in the afternoon till half an hour afore day next morning ;' 
another, that c he was a common frequenter of ale-houses in his 
parish, and six days in one week, and that the very next after 
the officers had reproved him, when they took him there ; ' three, 
that 'the officers finding him in an ale-house, and telling him 
they were sorry to see him in that place, he replied, doe the best 
you can, and then called the churchwarden knave ; ' four, c that 
he was active in the late innovations about the railes;' three, 
that c because his parifhioners refused to pay for his licence he 
refused to preach, and only read homilies and the later service 
at the rails, with his face toward the east,' and that, ' to his 
sermon he prayed that the blood of the deputy of Ireland 
might not be required at their hands;' two, that 'he often left 
his parish a whole Sabbath without a supply;' one, that 'in 
preaching he misinterpreted the Scriptures, saying some part 
thereof was the very spirit of Samuel, which the witch of 
Endor raised;' and one, that 'he said he would read mass 
if paid.' * 

Mashbury. — Robert Gray, f 

Matching. — Robert Snell. He appears also to have held 
the vicarage of Mucking, as I find under date 13th July, 1643, 
an ordinance for 'sequeftering' that vicarage 'whereof Robert 
Snell is vicar.' 'The benefice of Robert Snell, vicar of 
Maching, in the county of Rssex^ is sequeftered, for that he 
hath often refused to adminifter the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper to such of his parish that refused to come to the railes 
to receive it, and there being a crucifix in the window, over the 
altar, he useth to bow towards it, and would not suffer it to be 
pulled down, notwithstanding the order of Parliament for it; 
and hath taught his people that God hath now an altar ', and that 
the table set altar-wise put him in mind of God to worship him 
the better; and in adminiftering the Sacrament, called one of 
his communicants puppy , for that, being left-handed, he put 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. p. 25, 26. He f Add. MSS. 15671, Sept. 23, 1647. 

was eftablifhed to the curacy in 1634. He survived the reftoration, when he 
Newc. ii. 405 ; see infra. resigned. N. ii. 409. 



The Seque/irations. 243 

forth that hand to receive the bread, and caused the church- 
wardens to present such as would not come up to the railes to 
receive there and kneele before them, and hath expressed great 
malignancy against the Parliament.'* 

West Mersea. — See Memorials. 

Middleton.— William Frost. Depositions were taken 
against him on the 5th of January, 1644, when two swore to 
his 'having been active in setting up the railes, and forcing his 
parifhioners to come there;' three, to his 'having read the 
Book of Sports, and thereupon the youth said they had liberty 
to play, and would ; ' two, to his ' being a tipler, and there having 
seen him so diftempered with drink that he could not speak 
plaine, nor goe right in the street, about two or three years 
sithence,' and that c in his diftemper with drink, he came 
whooping and hollowing home at unreasonable times in the 
night, and this was before Michaelmas last ; ' two, that ' in one 
of his drinking fitts at the Crowne, in Sudbury, he offered to 
forgive a woman divers debts which he pretended she ought 
(sic.) him, if she would give him a kisse;' three, that 'he was 
dangerously suspected of incontinency, as may appear from the 
following :....;' one, that ' one Susan Ruggle told her that 
her miftress, Mr. Froft's wife, fell out with her, threatening to 
turne her out of dores, but she sayd that if she did turn her out 
she would make her mafter (sic.) for ever shewing himselfe in 
the pulpit; ' two, that ' upon a suit against him in the High Com- 
mission Court, for the crime of . . . , he was forced to find com- 
purgators to sweare for him, who were, are (sic.) most of them 
either sequeftered or run away;' the evidence of three others 
is wholly unfit for publication, and one swore to his 'having 
uttered treasonable speeches.' Further depositions were taken 
against him on the nth of May following, when one of the 
worst facts deposed to in January was confirmed by the personal 
evidence of the female whom it implicated. Additional depo- 
sitions were also taken against him on the 17th of June 
following, when one witness deposed 'to his improprieties;' 

* Jour. H. of Commons III- 164; The Inftituted May 16, 1608 j infra. 
Firft Century, 6 j Add.MSS. 15670, 392. 

R 2 



244 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. I. 

two, that 'preaching on the subject, on the Sabbath for taking 
the covenant, after many cautions about the danger of brech of 
vows, (he) so pressed upon us what proteftations the King had 
made for defending the Proteftant religion, (that) we were 
much disheartened from taking it, till Mr. Wall, one of the 
parish, did persuade us;' one, that c on the day of Public 
Thanksgiving, Mr. Frost came to her house, then at Twinsted, 

;' and two, that 'about the time that the King's army 

went first against the Scots,' he 'read a paper publicly in the 
church, which was to this effect — that though the Scots pleaded 
their coming was for the maintenance of the gospel and the 
liberty of the subject, yet the end of their coming was to take 
away our eftates, and abuse our wives, and other words to that 
purpose.' And either in July or some time afterwards (for 
these 'additional depositions' are not dated in the transcript), 
one witness confirmed the evidence given as to his discouraging 
his people from taking the covenant ; and another the charge of 
drunkenness at Sudbury, adding, that since that time also he had 
seen him 'so distempered that he could not go without leading, 
and that about September last he heard Mr. Frost ask Mrs. 
Frost, his wife, why she went not to church, and she said to 
him that he had better stay at home than come home with 
broken legs, as he did.' * 

Mountnessing. — Humphrey Davies. ' The benefice of 
Humphrey Dawes (sic), vicar of the parish church of Mount 
Nezing, in the county of Essex, is sequeftered, for that he hath 
discouraged his parifhioners from assisting the present defensive 
war, affirming that they are damned, and are traitors to the King, 
that have lent money to the Parliament; and that he hath read 
the Book of Sports, and encouraged his parifhioners to prophane 
the Sabbath ; and hath been often drunke, and came so drunke 
to church on the Lord's day, as he bad his people sing a 
chapter in the Hebrews for a psalme, not knowing what he 
did.' On the minutes of the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters, under date January 24, 1645, there is entry of a 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. 30, 42 — 44; Froft died before May, 1661. Newc. ii. 
Add. MSS. 15669, 30 j 15671, 23. 4195 see infra. 



The Sequef rations. 245 

complaint made by Davies of being charged with a rent that 
ought to be paid by his successor. The Committee ordered 
that his grievances should be redressed. * 

Mucking. — See Matching, p. 242. 

Mundon. — Thomas Staples. c The benefice of Thomas 
Staple, vicar of the parifh church of Munden, in the county of 
Essex, is sequestered, for that he is a common frequenter of 
taverns and ale-houses, and a great drinker and companion with 
drunken, debauched, and malignant persons ; and upon the 1st 
of June, in this instant year 1643, Dem g the next day after the 
fast, invited to his house a riotous company to keepe a day of 
prophaneness by drinking of healths round about a joyn'd stoole, 
singing of prophane songs, with hollowing and roaring, and, 
at the same time, enforcing such as came to him upon other 
occasions to drinke healths about the stoole with him until they 
were drunke ; and hath taught that it is not for laymen to meddle 
with the Word, nor yet to search the Scripture; and hath oft left 
his parifhioners deftitute of preaching on the Lord's day, even 
within these twelve moneths, and when he hath been absent 
from them hath subftituted in his room very drunken and 
debauched curates, and hath professed that if any of his parish 
that did not like of his course of life should be sicke and send 
for him to be reconciled to him, hee could not come at him 
though hee were to save his soule thereby; and hath taught that 
children dying without baptisme are all damned, and if any 
infant that received the sacrament of baptisme should be damned, 
hee would be damned for him? f 

Nasing. — See Memorials. 

Navestock. — Samuel Fifher. J 

Norton Cold. — See Memorials. 

Notley Black. — See Memorials. 



* The Firft Century, 38. Add. MSS. 13th Dec, 1 641, on the presentation of 

15670, 45. He was inftituted 6th Sept., the Duke of Lancafter. Newcourt says 

1605, on the presentation of John, Lord he was sequeftered for his loyalty! ii. 428 ; 

Petre. Newcourt says that he was seques- see infra, 

tered for his loyalty ! ii. 430; see infra. % Mor. i. 184; Add. MSS. 15670, 

f The Firft Century, 45. Inftituted 443. 



246 Appendix to Chap. VI L No. i. 

Ockendon South. — See Memorials. 

Ongar High. — See Memorials. 

Panfield. — See Memorials. 

Parndon Great. — See Memorials. 

Pattiswick. — See Memorials. 

Pebmarsh. — See Memorials. 

Peldon. — See Memorials. 

Pentloe. — See Memorials. 

Purleigh. — Laurence Wafhington. ' The benefice of 
Laurence Washington, rector of Purleigh, in the county of 
Essex, is sequeftered, for that he is a common frequenter of 
ale-houses, not only himselfe sitting daily tippling there, but 
also encouraging others in that beaftly vice, and hath been 
often drunke, and hath said that the Parliament have more 
Papifts belonging to them in their armies, than the King had 
about him or in his army, and that the Parliament's army did 
more hurt than the Cavaliers, and that they did none at all ; and 
hath publifhed them to be traitors that lend to or asslft the 
Parliament.' * 

Radwinter. — See Memorials. 

Rawreth. — John Browning. The onlv evidence I have 
for this sequeftration is Walker's statement. "\\ alker says 
that he was also sequeftered from the vicarage of Hornchurch. 
The sequestration at Rawreth is partially confirmed by the 
appearance of the name of Warley in the classis, some months 
before the death of Browning, t 

Rayne Parva. — See Aiemorials. 

Rettendek. — See Memorials. 

Rivenhall. — See Memorials. 

Rodixg Abbots. — See Memorials. 

Roding High. — John Duke. J 

* The Firft Century, 4. Inftltuted J Lansdowne MSS. 459. Duke died 

14th March, 1632. Newcourt says he before 6th Feb., 1663. Newc. ii. 501. 

was sequeftered for his loyalty! ii. 4"6 ; He does not appear to have recovered his 

see infra. living. Lansdowne MSS. 459 ; see also 

f Browning, p. 152, 1505 Warley; infra, 
infra. 



The Sequejirations. 247 

Roding White. — See Memorials. 

Roxwell. — John South deserted his cure before his seques- 
tration. See Writtle. 

Runwell. — Simon Lynch. He was also the incumbent 
of Blackmore. He retained his curacy, and his family also 
had the fifths of Runwell to his death. * 

Saling Magna. — John Lake. Depositions were taken 
against him at Halfted, March 22, 1643, when three witnesses 
gave evidence as to c his urging the Book of Sports ; ' four, to 
c his having refused the Sacrament to those of his parifhioners 
that would not come to the rails, but gave it to a wandering 
pedlar that railed against Roundheads ;' three, to 4 his being a 
very common tipler, often drunke, so that sometimes he is 
not able to go home without leading, and that he hath not 
forborne tipling on Saturday night till next day it rung to 
church, and then he went home and preached ;' three, to c his 
being a common swearer;' and four, to his 'being notoriously 

vile in attempting ' Additional depositions were 

taken against him also at Halfted, on the 10th of April, 1644, 
when one witness swore, that c about three years since he saw 
Mr. Lake so drunke at Braintree Ffaire that he could not walk 
upright in the streets, and one goodwife Bigbone, now deceased, 
that had been his mayd servant, led him then away ;' another, 
that he saw him c at another time, about three and a half yeares 
since, so drunk at Braintree, on market day, where he was 
drinking till nine or ten at night, that he was not able to goe 
home alone, but this deponent was fayne to lead him, and 
yet he could not keep him upp, but he had a great many falls 
by the way, and coming out at the towne's end, Mr. Lake 
called at the George for more beere, but he had drunken so 
much before that he was able to drinke but little of that, and 
as he was going homewards, he reeling, fell down amongst 
bufhes and rent his coate, and when this deponent did helpe 

* Add. MSS. 15670, 3665 ColeMSS. of his successor's appointment to Black- 

xxviii. 80; see p. 254. He was inftituted more is 15th April, 1664. Newc. ii. 

to Runwell 17th March, 1629, on the 511,65; see infra, 
presentation of Simon Lynch. The date 



248 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 1. 

him up agayne, he swore by God he had rent his cassock ;' 
two, that c formerly and within this half year, he caused or 
suffered drunkenness in his house, so as divers have gone 
from his house in drink, and so disguised as they could not 
speak or goe right, and that he hath kept company with other 
drunken company since «...;' two, to c his being a common 

swearer;' one gave evidence that . ; 

and six, that 'they have seen no evidence of the reformation 
or repentance he pretends, and that he is not gifted either for 
preaching or praying.'"* 

Sandford Parva. — Jegon Webfter. f 

Sandon. — See Memorials. 

Sheering. — See Memorials. 

Shenfield. — See Memorials. 

South Church. — See Memorials. 

Southminster. — Edward Jeffrey. Walker says that he 
was also imprisoned. J 

Springfield Boswell. — See Memorials. 

Springfield Richard. — Robert Tourney. || 

Stambourne. — See Memorials. 

Stamford Rivers. — See Memorials. 

Stambridge Magna. — There was a sequeftration here, 
but I have not been able to discover the name of the rector. § 

Stan way. — Samuel Baldock. He was summoned for con- 
tempt for refifting the sequestration, f 

Stapleford Tawney. — See Memorials. 



# Cole MSS. xxviii. 14, 15, 55, 56. Tournay was appointed to that living by 

f Lansdowne MSS. 459. He was the Committee, the year after his seques- 

inftituted 16th May, 1640. Newc. ii. tration at Springfield ; see infra. 

5165 see infra. § Lansdowne MSS. 459 ; see infra. 

% Add. MSS. 15671, 30; Walker ii. f Add. MSS. 15669, 393; 15670, 

57 ; see infra. 189, 210, 297. He was instituted 21st 

|| Add. MSS., June 3, 1645, 15669, Oct., 1630. He had also held the rectory 

164, 230, 254; 15670, 215; 15671, of Greenfted, Colchefter, up to 1638, 

14. He was reftored, and died before when he was chaplain to the Earl of 

25th Aug., 1661. N. ii. 539. If New- Dorchefter. Baldock recovered Stanway 

court be right in identifying him with the at the reftoration, and died before 28th 

Rector of South Fambridge in 1660. May, 1668. Newc. ii. 554, 287. 



The Sequejlrations. 249 

Stebbing. — See Memorials. 

Steeple ? — Richard Nettles ? * 

Stisted. — See Memorials. 

Stock. — See Memorials. 

Takely.— Thomas Heard. c The benefice of Thomas 
Heard, vicar of the parish of Weft Tukely (sic), in the 
county of Essex, is sequestered, for that he is a common 
drunkard and companion of drunkards, and hath been so drunke 
that he hath tumbled into ditches and mire, and hath been 
oft drunke since he was complained of in Parliament, and 
in one of his drunken fits called for a fire to be made, and 
would he could burne his wife and children in it ; and 
refused to deliver the Sacrament to his parifhioners for not 
kneeling near unto it within his reach ; and when the former 
Parliament broke up, said boaftingly, that he hoped to live to 
see all the Puritans hanged.' f 

Tay Parva. — Erasmus Laud. c The benefice of Erasmus 
Laud, rector of the parifh church of Little Tey, in the county 
of Essex, is sequeftered, for that he is a common drunkard, 
even on the Lord's day, thereby disabling himself from 
officiating his cure, and sitting drinking late on a Saturday 
night was demanded who should preach on the next day, 
answered, Let the Devill preach, give me another cup of sacke; 
and is a common swearer, and hath used frequent superftitious 
cringings to the altar, and seldome preacheth to the parifhioners, 
not above once in five or six weekes, before the Parliament, 
and divers times through his neglect his church doors have 
been shut up all day on the Lord's days and fast days, and 
at those times set his servants to worke, and did work himself 
with them.' J 

Thaxted. — See Memorials. 

* Lands. MSS. 459 j see infra. J The Firft Century, 31. Inftituted 

f The Firft Century, p. 49. In New- on the presentation of Laud, 2nd May, 

court he appears as Timothy. He was 1631. N. ii. 574. He was a sufferer in 

inftituted 20th March, 1629, on the the difturbances of 1642. Mer. Rust. ii. 

presentation of Laud. He is said to 12. But he received compensation. 

have been 'ejecled by the rebels.' N. ii. 

569 ; infra. 



250 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. i. 

Theydon Boys. — William Joy. My sole authority for this 
is Walker's statement that a minifter of the name was seques- 
tered somewhere in the county, and the only one I can find in 
Newcourt is at Theydon. * 

Theydon Garsons. — Nicholas Wright. c The benefice 
of Nicholas Wright, rector of the parish church of Theydon 
Garnon, is sequeftered, for that he hath not preached above 
twice or thrice a yeare to his parifhioners, and yet hath pre- 
sented divers of them and put them to great charges in the 
ecclesiaftical courts for going to heare sermons in other churches 
when they had none at home, and brought also such minifters 
as they heard so preach into trouble ; and hath procured the 
communion table to be set altar-wise, with stepps to it and 
railes about it, and conftantly bowed towards it at his coming 
in and going out of church, refusing to adminifter the Sacrament 
to divers of his parifhioners, without any cause other than his 
own wilfulnesse, and read the Book for Sports on the Lord's 
day in his said church, and preached to maintain the lawfull- 
nesse of it, by means whereof the Lord's day hath ever since 
been much prophaned by foot-ball playing and other ungodly 
practises; and hath deserted his said cure ever since Palme 
Sunday last, and betaken himselfe to the army of the cavaliers, 
and is in actuall war against the Parliament and the kingdome; 
and hath brought, and continued long under him for his curate, 
a drunken, lewd, and scandalous person, that hath been indicted 
and found guilty at the sessions for a common drunkard.' f 

Thorpe. — Thomas Darnell. 'The benefice of Thomas 
Darnell, vicar of the church of Thorpe, in the county of Essex, 
is sequeftered, for that he is an usuall prophaner of the Lord's 
day by sports and playes, and by making cleane his cow-house 
and out-houses, and other like servile works, and read the Book 
of Sports on the Lord's day in the church, with approbation 

* See infra 5 Walker ii. 281 ; N. ii. Newc. ii. 58. Some disputes arose between 

^g^. him and his succeflbr about the fifths, 

f The Firft Century, 18. Add. MSS. which were ultimately settled by the 

15669, March 1, 1644; ib. 201,246, Committee for Plundered Minifters 
260. He died before the reftoration. 



The Sequejlrations. 251 

thereof, and is a common swearer and curser, and a notorious 
drunkard and ale-house haunter, even upon the fast dayes, and 
is a common gamefter at unlawfull games ; and hath been con- 
victed of incontinency and adultery before Doctor Warren and 
others, juftices of peace, and began suites at law in an action 
of slander for the same, but durst never proceed therein; and 
hath preached that he that would not conforme to his Prince in 
any religion ought to be burnt, and was a conftant practiser of 
the late innovations, and put such of the parish from the Sacra- 
ment of the Lord's Supper as would not come to receive it at 
the railes; and hath expressed great malignancy against the 
Parliament.' The sequeftration was confirmed September 13, 

1645.* 

Thorrington. — There would seem to have been a seques- 
tration here. If so it would have been Thomas Fothergill, 
inftituted 17th October, 1643, and the reason seems to have 
been that he had forsaken his cure, f 

Tollesbury. — Peter Allent. c The benefice of Peter Allen 
(sic), vicar of the parish church of Tolsbury, in the county 
of Essex, is sequeftered, for that he hath . . . . ; and while the 
railes were standing about the communion table, he refused to 
adminifter the Sacrament to such as would not come to them; 
and hath been very negligent of his cure, absenting himselfe 
without any care taken for supply thereof a month together, 
whereby the bodies of the dead have been left unburied severall 
daies; and hath expressed great malignancy against the Parlia- 
ment.' There are entries of a dispute between him and his 
successor on the minutes of the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters, which was ultimately referred to the County Com- 
mittee for adjudication. J 

Tolleshunt Darcy. — John Hayle: There is an entry in 
the minutes of the Committee for Plundered Minifters that 



* The Firft Century, p. 29. Add. % The Firft Century. Add. MSS. 

MSS. 15669. Feb. 6, 1644; see also 15669, 297, 554. He was inftituted 

201,226, 316, 323. Infra. 27th Nov., 1616. Newc. ii. 612; see 

f Add. MSS. 15669. Feb. 15, April infra. 
19, 1644; infra. 



252 Appendix to Chap. VII. No. I. 

John Hayle having deserted the cure, the living is sequeftered. 
This entry is dated May 3, 1645. * 

Tolleshunt Major. — See Memorials. 

Totham Magna. — Ambrose Weftrop. 'The benefice of 
Ambrose Weftrop, vicar of the parish church of Much Totham, 
in the countie of Essex, is sequeftered, for that he doth com- 
monly prophane the ordinance of preaching by mentioning in 

the pulpit matters 

to stir up his people to laughter ; and hath taught in his 

sermons 

and speaking against such as pleased him not in paying their 
tithes, in the pulpit he turned towards his brother-in-law, then 
in the church, and said, you, brother Blockhead, will pay no 
tithe bushes neither; and, being angry with one whose name 
was Kent, he said then in the pulpit, they say the devill is in 
Harwich, but I am sure he is in Kent; and speaking of the 
parable of those that made excuses for not coming to the 

marriage, he observed 

and, at another time, told a story in the pulpit of two severall 

women 

and being a suitor to one Miftris Ellen Pratt, a widow, he did 
write upon a piece of paper these words : Bonny Nell, I love 
thee well, and did pin it upon his cloake, and wore it up and 
down a market towne, which woman refusing him, he did for 
five or six weeks afterwards utter little or nothing else, in the 
pulpit, but invectives against women; and being suitor to 
another woman, who failed to come to dinner upon invitation 
to his house, he immediately roade to her house, and desiring 
to speake with her, she coming to the doore, he pulled off her 
head-geere, and rode away with it, and many other like passages 
fell from him in his preaching, and were proved against him.'f 

Ulting. — William Hull. Depositions were taken against 
him 15th June, 1644, when one witness swore, that 'on 

* MSS. 15669; see infra. Newc.ii. 610. He died before 19th Nov., 

f The Firft Century, 50. The omitted 1646. Journal House of Lords, viii. 571 j 

paflages are offensive in the laft degree. see infra. 

He was inftituted 29th Nov., 1616. 



The Sequeftrations. 253 

Michaelmas day last, Hull came to his house so diftempered 
with beere that he staggered and reeled, so that he was like 
to fall into the fire, and after he had taken a pipe of tobacco 

he went and fell asleep all the while this deponent 

was at supper, and so he left him there when he went to bedd, 
and found him in the house the next morning ; ' another, that 
on c the same day he saw Mr. Hull at ... . going toward the 
house of the first witness, reeling and staggering in the street;' 
another, that c about a year and a half since Mr. Hull came to 
his house much diftempered with drinke, and tumbled down 
when he came into his house, and that he doth too often 
frequent ale-houses.' He also deposed that 'the said Mr. Hull 
told him when the Parliament officers came to Sir H. Mildemay 
Monson's house for his armes, that they were none but a com- 
pany of rogues and rascalls \ ' two, that c Mr. Hull doth ordinarily 
frequent ale-houses ; ' that they have c seen him divers times 
distempered with beere;' that 'he doth conftantly go from 
Maulden either very late on Saturday night or on Sabbath 
morning to his own parish of Oulting; ' and one, that he was c a 
common swearer.' Mr. Hull 'did openly, before the whole 
Committee, confess to not taking the covenant.' * 

Upminster, — See Memorials. 

Weald South. — See Memorials. 

Wethersfield. — See Memorials. 

Wickford. — Cornelius Gray. The following entry is in 
the minutes of the Committee for Plundered Minifters, under 
date August 20, 1645 : 'Ordered that the rectory be forthwith 
sequeftered from Cornelius Gray, for that he hath adhered to 
the forces raised against the Parliament, and was taken and 
now continues prisoner.' And on the 23rd of July, 1647, tne 
House of Lords issued an order for inftitution to that living, 
from which it appears Gray had died before that date, f 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. 40, 41. He re- reftoration, and died before 25th March 

covered his living before 1650, as he is 1669. Newc. ii. 617$ see infra, 

then returned thus, ' He doth not neglect f Add. MSS. 15669, 294. Journal 

his cure, but is not a godly minifter.' House of Lords ix. 348. He was infti- 

Lansdowne MSS. 459. He survived the tuted 10th Sept., 1635, on the presentation 



254 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. I 



Wickham St. Paul's. — See Memorials. 

Willingdale Doe. — Gilbert Watts. There is an entry 
in the minutes of the Committee for Plundered Minifters, 
under date Auguft. n, 1647, to the effect that his case was 
to have a second hearing. * 

Wimbish. — See Debden, p. 228. 

Witham. — See Memorials. 

Woodham Ferrers. — See Memorials. 

Writtle. — John South, f See Roxwell, p. 247. 

Yeldam Parva. — See Memorials. 



of Thomas Arnold. Gray died before 
23 rd July, 1647. Jour. House of Lords 
ix. 348. Newcourt gives the succemon 
of rectors in accordance with the MSS. 
and the Journals, ii. 656. Walker, ii. 
329, says that Robert Perceval was 
sequeftered, but he was not inftituted until 
after the death of Gray's succeffor. MSS. 
extracts from Juxon's Regifter. Harl. 
6100, 186. B. M. Newc. ii. 656} see 
infra. 

* Add. MSS. 1 5671, 132. He was 
of Lincoln College, Oxford. He was one 
of between forty and fifty persons who 
were created D.D. at Oxford, in 1642. 
Wood ii. 30. He died in 1657; having 
publifhed a translation, into Englifh, of 
Bacon's * De Augmentis Scientiarum.' 



Lond. 1633. Oxon. 16405 and leaving 
behind him a tranflation also of Davila's 
Hiftory of the Civil Wars in France, and 
other MSS. Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 213 ; 
see infra. 

f Lansdowne MSS. 459. He was of 
New College, Oxford, and profeflbr of 
Greek in that Univerfity. He recovered 
his living at the reftoration. In 1666 he 
became chauntor of Salifbury. He died 
in Auguft, 1672, and was buried at 
Writtle. Wood, Faft. ii. 199. The Rev. 
J. E. Sewell, B.D., the present Warden 
of New College, Oxford, kindly informs 
me that he was presented to Writtle by 
his college in Feb., 1624. He was seques- 
tered after his desertion of his livings. 
Lansdowne MSS. 459 ; see infra. 



APPENDIX TO CHAP. VII. No. 2. 

The Firji Classis, called Braintree^ with the Liberty of 
Havering and Ghafford Classis. 



Braintree Hundred. 

West Ham. * 

East Ham. f 

Walthamstow. % 
Wansted. II 



Ministers. 

M. Richard Allen, 
M. Slaughter, 

M. Lee, 

M. Humphrey 
Maidison, 



Elders. 

Robert Smith, Esq. 
M. John Dickins. 
Sir H.Holcroft,Knt. 
M. Thos. Muskett. 
M. William Miller. 
Sir H. Mildmay. 



* Allen, Memorials. Robert Smith, 
of Upton, created Baronet in 1655. Mor. 
i. 14. 

f Slater? Sir H. Holcroft, of Green- 
ftead. Morant i. 15; Memorials. 

J Lee. p. 206. His succeflbr was John 
Wood, of whom the return in 1650 is, 
that ' he had been put in by the Com- 
mittee for Plundered Ministers, but he is 
now queftioned for his abilities, and 
certain articles are exhibited againft him 
to the committee, and he is disliked by 
the greater part of the inhabitants, who 
will not come to church to hear him, 
whereby there is a great diftraction in the 
parish.' Lansdowne MSS. 459. Lyson's 
Environs i. 708. Thomas Cartwright 
became Vicar in 1659, and refigned it 
before 23rd Nov., 1660, for the better 
living of Barking. Newcourt says that he 
was Vicar of Waltham in 1 649, but see 
infra. In 1686 he was consecrated Bifhop 
of Chefter. He was one of the Non- 
jurors, and fled to France to James II. at 
the revolution. He died in Dublin, April 



15, 1689. Newcourt i. 218. There is 
a long account of him, Wood Ath. ii. 
329, and 1 173. Fasti, ii. 98, 103. His 
succeflbr conformed. 

|| Maddison (sic) in Newc. ii. 639, was 
Rector in 1641. He entered the Protes- 
tation in the regefter and figned it, 
together with William Brereton, probably 
Sir William, the Parliamentary General, 
Henry Herbert, Thomas Mildmay, Henry 
Mildmay, Richard Boothby, William 
Boothby, James Cawbell, and thirty 
others. Lyson's Environs i. 723. Mad- 
dison is returned in 1650 as an able godly 
preacher. Lands. 459. He died before 
1 1 th Dec, 1660; when he was succeeded 
by Thomas Harrison, who conformed. 
Richard Boothby was of Carew Hall. 
Mor. i. 31. Sir Henry Mildmay. 141. 
John Saltmarfh, who died at Ilford, was 
buried at Wanfted, Dec. 15, 1647. Lyson's 
i. 722. For a full account of this 
remarkable man, and his remarkable 
death, Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 287 — 289, 
also Brooks' Lives iii. 30. 



256 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Braintree Hundred. 
HORNCHURCH. * 



Romford, f 



Havering. J 



Layton. 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



M. John Hoffman, T. Witheringe, Esq. 

Carew H. Milcimay. 
M. John Morse, Joachim Matthews, 
Esq. 

M. John Fenninge. 

M. Wm. Cummins. 

M. John Dodson. 
M. Nehemiah Dod, SirThos.Cheke,Knt. 

M. Edw. Pickering. 

M. Tho. Preftone. 

Sir William Hicks. 



* Hofman. A German that fled into 
England upon the first taking of Heidel- 
burg. Dr. Henry Sampson's Diary. Ays- 
cough MSS. 446 — 7, where there is an 
anecdote of him and Bradfhaw. Wither- 
inge is buried in Hornchurch. He died in 
1655 j and is said in his Epitaph to have 
been * Chiefe Poftmafter of Greate 
Britain.' Mor. i. 69. Carew Harvey 
Mild may was of Marks. He was the 
nephew of Sir Gawin Harvey, and the 
son of William Mildmay, of Springfield 
Barnes. Mor. i. 68 5 ii. 9 5 infra. 

-f- There is the following entry in the 
parish regifter of burials, under date 161 5, 
June 5 : ' James Morse, son of John Morse, 
Minifter of the Word.' Notes and Queries, 
Aug. 3, 1862. In Sept., 1646, £50 was 
allowed for Mosse's better maintenance 
out of the rectory of West Ham. S. P. O. 
Dom. Ser. Interregnum CCD. xxxvi. 
261. Mosse was buried Jan. 31, 1648. 
Samuel Auftin was minifter in 1648. 
The return in 1650 is : 'Mr. Pierce, an 
able preaching minifter.' Lansdowne 
459. Dec. 11, 1659. Edward Vaughan 
was minifter. His name appears in the 
regifter as late as Jan. 12, 1662. N. and 
Q. ib. Matthews was of Gobions. He 
was a native of the neighbourhood, and 
in early life was under clerk to Sir 



Thomas Mewtys, clerk of the Privy 
Council. He married the daughter of 
Sir Thomas Wolftenholme, Baronet, of 
Forty Hill, Enfield. He was now a 
Colonel in the Army. He was member 
for Maiden. He died in 1658. Mor. 
i. 63. Wood Fasti, ii. 97; see also 
Lyson's Collections ; Add. MSS. 9456, 
181. 

J Havering. See Doddinghurst. Dod 
probably succeeded John Petchie (N. & 
Q.) Aug. 30, 1662, but could not have 
continued there long, as the minifter in 
1648 was John Wheatley. Infra. A. 
Mr. Dalton was minifter in 1650. 'An 
able preaching minifter.' Lands. MSS. 
459. A Mr. Laykill was curate in 1662. 
He then conformed. Visitation book. 
Under date of Aug. 12, 1646, I find the 
following entry in the committee book, 
Inter, reg. cclxxxvi. 289, 290 : '£50 was 
ordered to be paid out of the rectory of 
West Ham to such godly and orthodox 
divine as shall be from time to time set- 
tled in the chapel of Havering, annexed to 
Hornchurch.' Sir Thos. Cheke, pp. 141, 
184, 189. 

j| Layton j infra. Sir William Hicks, 
eldest son of Sir Michael Hicks, secretary 
to Cecil, Lord Burleigh ; see p. 72. He 
was created a baronet July 21, 1619. He 



The Classes. 



257 



Braintree Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Barking. * M. Thos. Lake. 

Ilford Parva. f 

Dagenham. % 
Woodford. || 

Chafford Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Childerditch. § M. Dan. Duckfield, Nic. Threfher. 

North Ockendon^i M. Jackson. 

Warley M. ** M. Ed. Foord (sic), Isaac Paine. 

Thos. Prentice. 



was Lieutenant of the Forest of Waltham, 
and one of the Deputy Lieutenants of the 
county. He suffered much in the cause 
of Charles I. Sir William was seated at 
Rokholt, and died in Oct., 1680. He is 
buried in the old chancel of the church. 
He is frequently mentioned in Pepys' 
Diary ; see also Diary of John Evelyn i. 
315, 332, ed. 1850. 

* Barking. Memorials. 

■f The rector of Ilford Parva was 
Humphrey Richards, inst. 8th March, 
1639. N. ii. 347. He is described in 
1650 as an 'able preaching minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Richards was buried 
at Ilford Sept. 11, 1654. Notes and 
Queries, Oct. 1 1, 1862. At Ilford Magna 
John Wells was appointed to preach Nov. 
10, 1646. S. P. O. Dom. Ser. Inter, 
cclxxxvi. 334, infra. And Jan. 22, 
1647, one Sharpe appeared to a summons 
before the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters, but no prosecutor appearing, the 
case was dismissed. Add. MSS. 1 5671, 
78. The minifter of Ilford Parva, at the 
reftoration, was Henry Osbaston. He 
conformed. Osbaston was instituted to 
Stapleford Abbots, 13th Nov , 1662. 

X Dagenham, pp. 205, 228. The suc- 
cessor of Charles True was one Coleman, 
whose name occurs as late as July 4, 1646. 
In 1648 John Bowyer (333) appears as 
minister, p. 205. He is still there in 1650, 



'an able, godly preaching minister.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. The Rev. S. Farmer 
kindly informs me that Bowyer was buried 
by the communion table Oct. 15, 16505 
and also that he was succeeded by Jona- 
than Lloyd, who died Nov. 18, 1654. 
The vicar, at the restoration, was Frede- 
rick Tilney, who conformed. N. ii. 203 . 

|| The rector was William Isaacson, 
inst. 1 6th Nov., 161 9. The Rev. W. 
B. Philips obliges me with the information 
that he was succeeded by his son, Richard 
Isaacson, who died in Nov., 1653. 
Isaacson by Zechariah Caudrey, and Cau- 
drey by Will. Master, in Feb., 1660. 
Isaacson is described, in 1650, as an 
'able, painful, godly minister.' Lands. 
MSS. 459 ; Lyson's Environs ii. 744. 
Caudrey was probably one of several 
sons of Robert Caudrey, of whom see 
Strype, Aylmer 84 — 97 ; Annals i. 262 5 
and the brother of Daniel Caudrey. Con- 
tinuation, p. 489. Master conformed. 
N. ii. 600, 

§ P. 156 and Memorials. 

^\ William Jackson, inst. 26th April, 
1629. He is returned, in 1650, as 'a 
learned divine, constantly performing the 
cure.' Lands. MSS. 459. His successor 
seems to have been Edward Herbert, who 
conformed. N. ii. 447. 

** The Rev. Dr. Robinson kindly 
informs me that Ford became Rector in 



2 5 8 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Chafford Hundred. 

Cranham. * 

Stifford. f 
Upminster. % 



South Weald. 



Ministers. Elders. 

M. Robert Watson, Ralph Jocelin. 

John Graunt. 
M. Lathum (sic), Js. Silverlocke, Esq. 

John Sands. 

Roger Tanner. 

Ric. Gooday. 
M. Nic. Folking- M. Thos. Lathum. 
ham (sic), 



AVETHLEY. § (sic) 

Gray Thurrocke. fl 
Rainham.** 



Rob. Smith. 
John Skelton. 
John Wright. 



1637, and died July io, 1659, when he 
was succeeded by George Weldon, a 
Fellow of King's. Ford is described in 
1650 as an ' able learned minifter.' 
Lands. 459. Weldon conformed. N. ii. 
641. 

* Memorials. 

f Daniel Latham (sic) was insti- 
tuted 7th May, 1645. N. ii, 561. He 
is returned in 1650 as a very able and 
constant preaching minister. Lands. MSS. 
459. The Rev. W. Palin kindly 
informs me that Latham ceased to be 
Rector early in 1653, when he was 
succeeded by Jeremiah Potkin, who 
conformed at the reftoration. Silverlock 
is thus described in the tablet, erected 
to the memory of his wife Anne : — 
' Marmore non opus est illi, sua facta 
loquntur | Si desit tumulus, nomine notus 
erit I Nil restat nobis faciendum namque 
sepulchrum | Durans dum vixit condidit 
ipse sibi.' Lyson's Collections. Add. MSS. 
9458. There are also several inscriptions 
to the memory of the Lathums in these 
Collections. 

J Memorials. 

|| Memorials. Lathum was probably 
the son of Thomas Lathum, of Stifford. 



Morant i. 97. Wright was of the Moat 
House, which was then called Brook 
Hall. He was possessed of both the 
Ropers. Mor. i. 121. 

§ The vicar was William Ayscough, 
admitted 6th Aug., 1641, on the pre- 
sentation of Juxon. In Nov., 1646, 
£15 was ordered to be paid for the* in- 
crease of the maintenance of the minister 
out of the rectorial tithes of East Tilbury, 
which had recently been sequestered from 
Daniel Deligne,' the lay impropriator. 
S.P.O. Dom. Ser. Int. cclxxxvi. 249. In 
1650, Ayscough is returned 'as a preach- 
ing minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. He 
seems to have been succeeded by John 
Stone, who conformed. 

f[ The vicar, in 1650, was Daniel 
Jones, who is returned as ' negligent of 
his cure and of a bad life.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. 

** The vicar was Thomas Risden, 
according to Newcourt ii. 481, but the 
Lands. MSS. speaks of him as 'an able, 
preaching minister, he constantly performs 
the cure,' and adds ' no vicar.' Risden 
conformed, and was rewarded with the 
rectory of All-Hallow', Bread Street, on 
the ejection of Lazarus Seeman. N.i. 246. 



Chafford Hundred. 

Warley Parva. * 
Wennington. t 
West Thurrock.J 



The Classes. 

Ministers. 



259 



Elders. 



The Second Glassis, called Barftable Classis. 



Barstable Hundred. 
GlNGRAVE. II 



Ministers. 



Bursted Magna. § M. Sam. Bridge, 



Shenvill (sicl.U 



* Memorials. 

f John Ellborough, Risden's prede- 
cessor at Rainham, 22nd Jan., 1642. 
In 1642 he is returned as an 'able 
minister, preaching constantly.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. He seems to have been 
succeeded by Will. Asque, who con- 
formed. N. ii. 651. 

J Thomas Swinnerton, inst. 27th 
Oct., 1643. In May, 1646, there is an 
order for ' £40 to be paid out of Dagen- 
ham, sequestered from John Fanshawe, 
for the maintenance of Swinnerton. 
S.P.O. Dom. Ser. Int. cclxxxvi. 53 ; 
Fanfhawe, Mor. i. 10. In 1650 he is 
returned as ' a godly preaching minister.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

|| P. 231. Richard Babbington, 9th 
061., 1643. N. ii. 282. The return 
made of him in 1650, is by order from 
the Committee for Plundered Ministers, 
1 an able, godly preaching minister.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. John Willis was ad- 
mitted here by the Commissioners for 
approbation of Public Preachers, Aug. 
12, 1656, and in Sept. also to that of 



Elders. 

Lieut. -Col. Farre. 
M. Lagdon. 
Fra. Brogg. 
Samuel Wayt. 
M. Smeath. 
Edw. Humphrey. 
Rob. Nicolson. 
William Hall, sen. 
Walter Merrick. 
John Ridley. 



West Hornden. N. ib. Willis con- 
formed. Farre held the manor of West 
House, Great Burghsted ; and Buckwyns, 
Butsbury; and Abbot's Hall, Standford le 
Hope. Mor. i. 197. There is publifhed 
of his ' A Speech spoken to the Earl of 
"Warwick, in behalf of the whole county 
of Essex.' Lond., 8vo., 1642. 

§ Bridge, infra. Inst. 5th Jan., 1641. 
He was of Emmanuel Coll., Cambridge, 
where he matriculated July 9, 1627. 
Baker MSS. Notes to Calamy. In 1650 
he is returned ' as an able and faithful 
minister.' Lands. MSS., 459. He died 
before 21st Feb., 1661. MSS. Ext. from 
Juxon's Register, Harl. B.M. Calamy 
erroneously names him among the ejected 
ministers. Account 307. Wayt, probably 
one of the Gaines family. Mor. i. 107. 
In the next generation Sir W. Humphreys, 
Knt., purchased the manor of Mal- 
maynes, Barking. Mor. i. 4. Sir Philip 
Hall, of Upton, was sheriff of EfTex, in 
1727. Mor. i. 63. 

^[ Memorials. 



26o 



Appendix to Chap. VI L No. 2 



Barnstable Hundred. 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



West Horxdox."* 

Horxdox super MoNTEM.f M. Moyse, Tho. Caldwell. 

John Ashen. 
Tho. Amatt. 
Rich. Petchie. 
Rich. Amatt. 
Ben. Wennington, M. Reeve. 
M. Edmund Cliffe, Henry Green. 

Geo. Walton, Esq. 



HUTTOX.J 

Layndon Hill. || 
East Horxdox. § 



BURSTED PARVA.fl 

Bures Gifford."** M. Clark. 



* P. 238. Rich. Car(di)nal, 9th Oct., 
1643. O ne °f tne Bromley family? pp. 
56, 124. He is returned in 1650, as 
'a godly, able minister.' Lands. MSS. 
459. John Willis succeeded 23rd Sept., 
1656. X T e\vc. identifies him with Willis, 
of Gingrave, but the law against pluralists 
would surely have been observed by the 
Commiffioners who inducted him. 

■f P. 238. The return in 1650 is 
'William Adams, an able preaching 
minister, is vicar.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
John Davis probably succeeded, and 
Simon Gale; Davis Gale conformed. N. 
ii. 343. A Daniel Caldwell died 1634, 
possessed of Thomas Higbed's (34) mes- 
suage. Mor. i. 219. 

J Infra. 6th Feb., 1646, 'ordered 
that Dr. Aylett, or his lawful deputy, are 
hereby authorised and required to give 
institution and induction to Walter Tayler, 
clerk, M.A., to the rectory of Hutton, 
county of Essex, void by the death of the 
late incumbent . . . said Mr. Tayler 
taking the national league and covenant, 
and producing his presentation thereunto, 
under the great seal of England.' Jour. 
H. of Lords viii. 711. Tayler was still 
at Hutton in 1650. 'An able and godly- 
minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. He seems 
to have been succeeded by Richard Goltie, 



who conformed. MSS. addition to one 
of the copies of the ' Classis ' in the 
Britilh Museum. Newcourt ii. 344. 

|| P. 239. Wennington was previously 
of Great Bursted, where he preceded Sam. 
Bridge. A Henry Crewe had been re- 
commended to the Assembly as Pindar's 
successor, but he was not accepted. Add. 
MSS. 15670. Wennington did not 
remain there long, as in the Lands. MSS. 
459, the pariih is returned as having 'no 
minister, and that Mr. Pindar has re- 
turned.' 

§ ClifFe was still here in 1648, when 
his name is given as Edward. Infra. He 
is returned in 1650 'as a preaching 
minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. His suc- 
cessor seems to have been John Browne, 
who conformed. N. ii. 341, Walton 
was one of the old Essex family of that 
name. Mor. i. 346. 

f| P. 220. The minister in 1650 was 
John Pease, ' an able, godly preaching 
minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. It would 
seem that Pease conformed at the resto- 
ration. Newc ii. 118. 

** Edward Clark succeeded to the rec- 
tory on the death of Henry Palmer, who 
was buried, the Rev. W. W. Tireman 
informs me, March 26, 1640. He also 
obliges me with copies of the register of 



The Classe 



261 



Braintree Hundred. 

Mucking. * 
Churringham. f 
Ramsden Bell. % 
Bassedon. II 
South Benfleet. § 
Brodpham. 11 
Standford le Hope.** 

DUNTON WAYLETT. ft 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



John Webb. 
John Collins. 



the baptisms of two of Clark's children. 
Clark is returned in 1650 as 'an able, 
preaching minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
He conformed, and was re-instituted ' ad 
corroborandum titulum.' MSS. Extracts 
from Juxon's register, Harl. MSS. 6100, 
p. 186. See also S.P.O. Dom. Ser. 
Charles II. lxxxii. 99. This explains the 
entry in Newcourt ii. 102, from which it 
would appear that there were two Edward 
Clarkes, rectors of Bures Gifford in suc- 
cession. 

* P. 245. The vicar was Thos. Ellen, 
who is returned in the Lands. MSS. as 
Thomas Allen, ' an able, godly minister.' 
He conformed at the restoration, resigned 
Mucking, and became rector of Little 
Waltham. See infra. 

■f P. 228. The rector was Jonathan 
Hoyle. Add. MSS. 15669. Hoyle is 
returned, in 1650, as * a godly minister.' 
Lands. 459. I am kindly informed, on 
the authority of the parifh registers, by the 
Rev. S. S. Greatheed, that ' he was suc- 
ceeded on the 25th March, 1658, by 
Samuel Jones, who held the redlory for 
less than twelve months, as he was buried 
Feb. 14, 1659. The next rector was 
John Cacot.' Cacot conformed. 

t P. 158. 

|| P. 238. James Moore was redlor 
in July, 1647. Add. MSS. 1 5671, 159. 
He was still there in 1650, 'an able and 
laborious preacher,' at which date one 



Gale preached at ' Bassildon,' by his ap- 
pointment. Lands. MSS. 459. 

§ The return in 1650 is 'Robert 
Sparkes, an able minister, approved of by 
the parishioners.' Henry Greenwood be- 
came vicar in Feb., 1660. He died 
before Feb., 1662. His successor con- 
formed. 

^[ pp. ico, 158. Hewitt was succeeded 
by Will. Hawkesbey, who conformed. 
N. ii. 107. 

** Probably John Richardson. Inst. 
nth Feb., 1628. N. ii. 549. In 1650, 
Caleb Wood, ' an able preaching minifter, 
but is reputed a conftant frequenter of 
ale-houses.' Lands. 459. Thos. Aleyn, 
who also held the living of Chadwell, 
became rector in 1660. He conformed. 
N. ii. 549, 125. 

ff P. 230. April 12, 1645. One 
James. Add. MSS. 15669. He was 
succeeded by William How. Lands. MSS. 
459. How by Edward Larkin, a fellow 
of King's College, Cambridge, who re- 
moved to the rectory of Limpsfield, in 
Surrey, his native parifh, in 1665. 
Larkin is spoken of by Wood, Ath. Ox. 
ii. 471, and was the author of ' Speculum 
Patrum,' Lond., 1650 He was suc- 
ceeded by John Holroyd, who was also a 
fellow of King's. Cole MSS. xv. 162. 
Holroyd was succeeded by Chris. Chal- 
font, who conformed. N. ii. 231. 



262 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Braintree Hundred. 

Thundersley. * 

DoWNHAM. f 

doddinghurst. j 
East Tilbury. || 
Fobbing. § 
North Benflete. ^1 
Orsett. ** 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



* Jeffrey Preftney. Inst, and May, 
1646. N. ii. 587 ; J. H. of Lords viii. 
291. The return in 1660 is, ' no settled 
minister since Midsummer last.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. William Rogers was the 
minister at the restoration. He con- 
formed. N. ib. 

■f- Thomas Redrich. Instituted 1st 
Sept., 1637. 'An able, godly minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. He conformed. N. 
ii. 221. 

J Nehemiah Dodd, p. 256. Inst, nth 
June, 1646. N. ii. 223. He removed 
to Havering about 1648. The Rev. W. 
Marbey kindly informs me that the name 
of his successor was Hicks. Hicks was 
succeded by Nehemiah Rogers, p. 156. 
Francis Denbam, who succeeded, con- 
formed. Newc. 

|| James Huddlefton, 17th Oct., 1630. 
In 1650 he is returned 'as an able, godly, 
preaching minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Samuel Caftleton became vicar in June, 
1661. N. ii. 597. He conformed. MS. 
Visitation Book of the Archdeaconry. 

§ P. 230. Johnson's successor was 
Rich. Searle, May 13, 1 645. By the 
20th of January following, Searle was 
dead. On the petition of the parifhioners 
Joseph Pease was appointed in March. 
Pease dying before April 25, 1646, 
Francis Scott was appointed at that date 
to the vacancy. Add. MSS. 15669, 
15670, 12, 91, 147, 176, 177. Scott 
was there in 1648, infra He is re- 
turned in 1650 as 'an able preacher.' 



The Rev W. S. Thomson informs me 
that Scott was buried at Fobbing, Nov. 
2 3» 1653. His successor I have not been 
able to ascertain. John Pell became 
rector in June, 1661. 

f[ Geo. Bosvile or Boswell. Inst. 20th 
Oct., 1644. Newc. identifies him with 
Boswell, of Rivenhall, which living was 
sequeftered from him. See Memorials; 
N. ii. 47, 495. He is returned, in 1650, 
as 'a preacher of good name and reputa- 
tion.' Lands. 459, 28th Sept., 1654. 
Francis Baylye succeeded. N. ii. 47. 
He conformed. 

** The rector was Matthias Styles, p. 
208. He was presented to the living by 
Charles I. in 1640. Newcourt ii. 454. 
Stiles was of Exeter College, Oxford, 
where he took the degree of Doctor in 
Divinity in 1638. Wood, Fasti. Ox. i. 
276. He had been chaplain to Sir Isaac 
Wake, ambassador to Venice, in 1624. 
In 1630 he was presented by Charles I. 
to the rectory of St. George, Botolph's 
Lane, London. Newcourt i. 354. He 
was also about that time preacher at St. 
Gregory, by St. Paul's, where he was 
maintained by the parish. Newcourt i. 
359. His name appears in conjunction 
with that of Calamy, Maden, Janeway, 
Marihall, and Samuel Joyner, as recom- 
mending ' a petition of W. C(astell), of 
Courtenhall, Northampton, concerning 
the propagation of the gospel in America.' 
London: printed in the year 1641. He 
resigned his living of St. George about 



The Classes, 



263 



Braintree Hundred. Ministers. 

Thurrock Parva. * 

Vannage. t 
West Tilbury. J 

WlCKFORD CUM GuiLDABLES. || 



Elders. 



1642. Newcourt repeats Wood's doubt 
as to whether he ever sat in the Assembly 
of Divines, but Neal distin&ly states that 
he took the Proteftation, and gave con- 
stant attendance — ii. 40. He was still 
rector of Orsett in 1 650, where he is 
described as 'an able, godly minister.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. He died 10th Aug., 
1652. The Rev. J. Blomfield has 
kindly obliged me with the following 
inscription on his tomb at Orsett : Dormi- 
torium D.D. Matthiae Styles | S. Theol. 
Professoris Procuratoris Acadae. | Oxon 
Subrectoris Exon Collegii | Sacellani Reg. 
necnon D. Illustr. | Isaaco Wake Apuid 
Ven. Archi. Legato | Qui | Post duode- 
cennalem animarum curam | Exantlatus 
Apud Orsettanum Ecclesiam | In Com. 
Essex obdormit somno gloriae | Reunionis 
anhelans jam Caronidem | cravwyugis | 
Unus e 1000 bus. veteri stylo Theologus 
Ecclesiae o-tvXo; praestantissimus. 
/ Ob. 10 Aug. \ / Fidelia \ 

\ 1652. I J Relifta I 

J An Aetat i ) Moerens \ 

\ 62. / V Posuit. / 

Styles is one of Walker's sufferers: He 
mentions him twice over — ii. 177, 357. 
The above notices show that every word 
of the long account which Walker gives 
of his sufferings, on the authority, as he 
says, of Dr. Norchleigh, grandson of Dr. 
Styles, is simply false. The statements 
in Persecutio Undecima (45) are about as 
trustworthy as those of Walker. John 



Michaelson became rector in Aug., 1660. 
He conformed. 

* The rector, in 1650, was Nicholas 
Grey, 'no preaching minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. He was succeeded by Abra- 
ham Garnon, who died before August, 
1 66 1. Charles Cullen conformed. N. 
ii. 590. 

f Vang. Geo. Mawle, 2nd Dec, 
1639. He is returned, in 1650, as 'an 
able, godly minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
He seems to have conformed. Newcourt 
ii. 612. 

J John Fordham, nth March, 1645. 
Jour. H. of Lords viii. 207. 'An able, 
godly preaching minifter.' Lands. MSS. 
459. He seems to have conformed. N, 
ii. 598. 

|| P. 253. 'The Geldables extend into 
the neighbouring parifhes of Rawreth, 

Runwell, and South Hanningfield 

Geldable signifies liable to pay tax or 
tribute.' Mor. i. 255, Aug. 30, 1645. 
The living was sequeftered to Thos. Lake, 
minifter of the Word. Add. MSS. 1 5669, 
294. On the 27th of Sept. following it 
was sequeftered to ' John Banning, minifter 
of the Word.' Add. MSS. ib. 377. July 
23, 1647. Nicholas Bound was ordered 
to be instituted, Gray being now dead. 
Journals House of Lords ix. 348. Ro- 
bert Percival (p. 254) was inftituted 26th 
March, 1661, on the death of Bound. 
Percival conformed. Newc. ii.656. 



264 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



The Third Classis, called Chelmsford Classis. 



Chelmsford Hundred. 

Leez Parva."^ 



Ministers. 

M. Clark, 



Waltham PARVA.f M. Harrison, 
Waltham Magna. J M. Ham, 



Bromfield. 



M. Burr, 



Elders. 

The Rt. Honorable 
Earl of Warwick. 

Roger Poole. 

James Weald. 

Sir Richard Everard, 
Knt. 

M. John Sortell. (sic.) 

John Goodere. 

Elias Pledger. 

JohnAttwood, Esq.^I 

Tho. Puttimer. 

M. Bullen. 



* Infra. Newcourt erroneously gives 
the date of John Clark's resignation 
as June, 1646. His successor was Am- 
brose Wethered, who was presented to 
the living by the Earl of Warwick, the 
Earl of Manchefter, Edmund Calamy, 
and Obadiah Sedgwick. N. ii. 388. 
Wethered was succeeded by John Benson. 
Memorials. 

f Memorials. Poole was a descendant 
of the benefactor of the parish of the 
same name. Mor. ii. 94. 

+ Infra. The Rev. J. Dyer kindly 
informs me that Henry Ham succeeded 
John Harrison. Memorials. In 1650 
he is reported thus: 'He constantly 
dischargeth the cure — an able, godly 
minifter.' It is added: 'Blacke Chapel, 
three miles diftant — Mr. J. Jackson, an 
able, godly minifter. Little Chapel — 
now discontinued and converted to other 
uses.' Lands. MSS. 459. Blacke and 
Little (y) Chapels. Mor. ii. 89. Thos. 
Cox became rector in March, 1653. He 
conformed. N. ii. 633. Sir Richard 
Everard was also a baronet. He was 
nephew to Sir Thos. Barrington. He 



was one of the committee for Essex. He 
was sheriff in 1 644, and member for the 
county in 1654 and 1656. He died Aug. 
29, 1694, at the age of seventy, and was 
buried in the church here. Mor. ii. "85; 
Noble, House of Cromwell ii. 58. The 
Sorrell family were the then lessees of the 
parsonage, and had also the parsonage of 
Stebbing. John married Mary, the 
daughter of Thomas Aylett, of Coggles- 
hall. Mor. ii. 85. 

j| Thomas Burr succeeded Geo. Par- 
nell, ante. p. 99, the 20th March, 1620. 
N. ii. 96. He is returned in 1650 as c an 
able preaching minister.' Lands. MSS. 
459. He died before Nov., 1661. His 
successor, William Alchorne, conformed. 
During part of Burr's miniftry one of his 
hearers was the famous Patrick Young, 
' Homo ad literaturae omnis duntaxat 
graece beneficium natus.' Young was 
the fifth son of Sir Peter, tutor and privy 
councillor to James I. He was born at 
Sea ton Lothian in 1584. He took the 
degree of M.A., at St. Andrews, and 
went from thence to Oxford. He had been 
librarian to James I. j treasurer of St. 



Chelmsford Hundred. 

Springfield.* 
Chelmsford, f 
Widford. % 
Writtle. II 

BOREHAM. § 



The Classes. 

Ministers. 



265 



Elders. 



M. Guy, M. Shetlewood. 

M. Rathbone, J. Woolner. 

Ja. Taverner. 
M. Veasie, M. Peter Whitecomb. 



Paul's, and also rector of Hayes, Middle- 
sex. N. i. 107. He published, (1) Ver- 
sio et notae in Clementis EpiStolum ad 
Romanas, Ox. 1633, which Dr. Fell 
afterwards reprinted, Ox. 1669. (2) 
Catena Graecorum Patrum in Lib. Job. 
London, 1637. (3) About 1628, an 
Alexandrian copy of the whole Bible in a 
Greek MSS. was sent by Cyril, Patriarch 
of Constantinople, to Charles I., con- 
taining the lxx version of the O. T., and 
also the text of the N., together with 
Clement's Epp. to the Corr. Young 
undertook to prepare the MSS. for pub- 
lication. For this purpose he made 
valuable use of other MSS., particularly 
one in University College Library, entitled 
' Odtateuchus,' two Greek MSS. transla- 
tions into Arabic in the Bodleian, and an 
ancient MS. formerly in the Cotton 
Collection. The Assembly of Divines 
greatly encouraged him in this under- 
taking, and an ordinance was passed by 
the Parliament, in 1645, to print the 
work when completed at the public ex- 
pense. It does not appear that Young 
ever went further with it than c. xv. of 
Numbers. Brian Walton afterwards pub- 
lished Young's Annotations in his Poly- 
glot Bible, vol. vi. (4) In 1638, he 
published an ' Expositio in Cant. Canti- 
corum,' written by Gilbert Foliot, bishop 
of London in the time of Henry II. 
(5) In conjunction with J. B. Cotelerius, 
and Gotfr Vendelesius, Young translated 
Clement's Epiftles to the Corinthians. 
This was published in London, 1683, 8vo. 



(6) He was also united with John Selden 
and Richard James in the preparation of 
the ' Marmora Arundelliana,' published 
in 1629. Wood, Fasti, i. 170. Bell, 
Life of Sam. Butler, prefixed to his poems, 
i. 12. Lond., Parker, 1855. Young 
was a presbyterian. He died Sept. 7, 
1652, and was buried in the chancel of 
the church here. Morantii. 78. There 
is a life of Young, by Dr. Thos. Smith. 
Wood, Fast. i. 170; Newc. i. 107. 

^[ John Attwood was the son-in-law 
of Patrick Young. He was lessee of the 
parsonage house, glebe, and great tithes 
of the parish. Mor. ii. 78. 
* Memorials. 
•f- Memorials. 

X George Guy, who was presented to 
the rectory in 1637. In 1650 he is re- 
turned as 'an able and godly preaching 
minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. Guy con- 
formed. 

|| Writtle, p. 254. Abel, or as his 
name appears, infra, Ariel Rathband, 
probably one of the family of William. 
In 1650 the return is ' M. Abel Wrath- 
bone (sic), an able preaching minister, 
is vicar, by sequeftration from Dr. South.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. The Taverners now 
held the manor of Buckwyns. Mor. 
ii. 39. 

§ Henry Vesey, inst. 14th Nov., 
1643. 24th Oct., 1648, the vicarage 
being void by death, Thomas Attwood 
Rotherham was appointed. J. H. of 
Lords, v. 563. He was still therein 1650, 
'a very godly and orthodox divine:' 



266 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 



2. 



Chelmsford Hundred. Ministers. 

Ingatestone. * M. Willis, 

WestHavingfield.t M. Wrenew. 

Rettenden. % M. Sutcliffe, 



vicar. 



Baddow Parva. II 
Baddow Magna. 5 



M. Ragg, 



Stock et Butsbury.1T 

South Hanningfield.**M. Seath N 

MoUNTNEAZING.ft 

D ANBURY. %X 

Sandon. II || M. Smith. 

Runwell. § § 
Woodham Ferris. •!" IT 



Elders. 

M. Jont Foard. 

Wm. Goldingham, Esq. 

Abraham Luckin. 

M. Leavit. 
M. Maiden. 
M. Purcell. 
M. Holborow. 
M, H. Alildmav. 
Tho. Calfe. 
orth. 

M. Wright. 
Benjamin Griggs. 

aI. Francis. 



Lands. MSS. 459. Memorials, infra. In 
the next generation, Peter Whitcomb, a 
Turkey merchant, became the purchaser 
of the manor of Great Broxted. Mor. 
ii. 139. 

* Memorials. 

f P. 234. Ranew ? Memorials. In 
1650, 'Samuel Hileman, an able, godly 
preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. The next 
entry in Newcourt is, Jo. Mafterson, 7th 
Dec, 1661, 'per.mort ult reef..' This 
refers to Aylmer. ii. 310. 

J Memorials. 

II 21st March, 164". John Anvaker, 
was appointed to the vicarage. J. H. 
of Lords. John Wilson was minifter in 
1648. In 1650 the return is 'no minifter 
there, but the parifhioners can get some 
of the neighbouring minifters.'' Lands. 
MSS. 459. See Memorials. 

§ Infra, Memorials. John Purcell, of 
Baddow Hall, son-in-law to Sir Thomas 
Moulfham, Kt. Mor. ii. 18. Henry, 
the ekteft son and heir of Sir Henry 
Mildmay, of Graces. Mor. ii. 25. 



f[ Stock. Memorials. Butsbury, p. 220. 
Nov. 29, 1645. The living of Butsbury 
was sequeftered to Henry Bartlett. Add. 
MSS. 15669, 508. The return in 1650 
is ' Paul Negus, upon petition ... by 
some in the liberty. An insufficient 
preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

** Memorials. 

ff P. 244. The return in 1650 is 
' Mr. Sandelands, he officiates the cure.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. One Peele died vicar 
before May, 1661. Will. Norris, his 
successor, conformed. 

XX Memorials. 
i| Samuel Smith. Memorials. 

§ § P. 24". The minifber seems to 
have been Matthew Longe. Add. MSS. 
1567O3 366. The return in 1650, is 
' Mr. Oakley, by sequeftration from Mr. 
S. Lynce ; he is a godly preaching minis- 
ter.' Lands. MSS. 459. Thomas Sil- 
liard was admitted 9th Sept., 1660, 
' per mort Lynch.' Silliard conformed. 
N. ii. 511. 

r r Memorials. 



The Classes. 



267 



Chelmsford Hundred. Ministers. 

Blakemore. * 

ROXWELL. f 

East Hanningfield. J 
Marget Ing. II 
Chignall St. James. § 
Chignal Smealey. 1T 
Fryarnit (sic.)** 
Leez Magna, ft 

* P. 247. The return, in 1650 is 
' Simon Lynce. He was sequeftered from 
Runwell for his scandalous life.'' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Lynch died before Sept., 
1660. N. p. 266. N. ii. 65. 

•f- P. 247. From information kindly 
furnifhed me by the Rev. J. Hearne, I 
find that Auguftine Hill was minifter 
here in 1643 — 1644. The return in 
1650 is 'John Reeve, an able, orthodox 
divine.' Lands. MSS. 459. The Youngs 
were once a considerable family in this 
chapelry. Mor. ii. 75. One of them, R. 
Young, was a popular writer of valuable 
tracts, which are well worth reprinting. 
A number of these were republiihed 
during the author's lifetime, under the 
title of ' The Chriftian Library.' Lond., 

i655- 

J The rector was John Torey, inft. 
24th Feb., 1645. In 1648 the rector 
was James Torey. Infra. He is returned 
in 1650 as 'an able preaching minifter.' 
Lands. 459. Torey seems to have con- 
formed. N. ii. 307. 

|| William Rogers, 26th March, 
1 641. Infra. In 1650 the return of 
him is, ' he came in without consent of 
Parliament or pariih. He is a conftant 
preacher, but ill-affected to the present 
government.' Lands. MSS. 459. He 
wrote a poetical preface to Samuel Pur- 
chas' 'Theatre of Flying Insects,' 1657. 
Rogers was succeeded by a Mr. Eley. 



Elders. 

M. Whitstone. 
Tho. Reynolds. 
Robert Sharpe. 
Simon Joceline. 
Thos. Harall. 



MSS. Add. to the Classis, B.M. His 
successor seems to have been Will. Hoard 
or Hoare, who conformed. N. ii. 406. 

§ John Fenwick, inft. 16th Jan., 
1638. Walker says that he was se- 
queftered, ii. 422, but he was here in 
1650, when he is returned as 'an able 
preaching minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Articles were exhibited against him. 
Cole says ' Conformity was the great fault 
in Mr. Fenwick, as appears from the 
depositions.' MSS. Add. to Walker, 
p. 78. There is no evidence of his 
sequestration. He appears to have 
been succeeded by Robert Fuller. See 
Tillingham, infra. Fuller died before 
Sept., 1 661. His successor conformed. 
N. ii. 138. 

!|[ John Manning, inst. 1617. Still 
there in 1650. 'An able preaching 
minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. He seems 
to have conformed. N. ii. 139. 

## P. 231. March 22, 1645. The 
living was sequestered to William Beard. 
Add. MSS. 15669. He seems to have 
been removed shortly, as Samuel Smith 
was rector in 1648. In 1650 Smith is 
returned as 'an able preaching minister.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. John Peake became 
rector in 1657. He conformed. New- 
court ii. 278. 

f f Jeffrey Watts, inst. 14th Dec, 
1 61 9. In 1650 he is returned as 'an 
able and godly preaching minister :' 



268 



Chelmsford Hundred 
MOULSHAM. 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 

Ministers. Elders. 



The Fourth Classis^ called Rotchford Class is. 



Parishes. 

Wakering Parva. * 
South Shobury. + 

South Church. J 

Prittlewell. II 



Sutton. § 



Ministers. 

M. Packhurst. 



M. Church, 
M. Peck, 

M. Purcas, 



Elders. 

Will. Britteredg. 
John Cannon. 
Sam. Freeborne, Esq. 
William Barrow. 
John Sharp. 
Rich. Legg. 
Sam. Freborne. 
Jno. Boyce. 
Kenelme Harvie. 



Lands. MSS. 459. He died before Jan., 
1662. His successor conformed. N. ii. 
386. Walker says that he was seques- 
tered at Clavering, and hints that he was 
so also here, which is all the more remark- 
able since he mentions the sequestration 
of Cornelius, at Clavering. There is no 
incumbent of that name in Newcourt's 
list of the vicars there. N. ii. 395, 218 ; 
Mor. ii. 95. Watts wrote, ' A Scribe, 
Pharisee, Hypocrite, and his letter an- 
swered 5 Seperates Churched, Dippers 
Sprinkled, or a Vindication of the 
Church and Univerfities of England, &c.' 
Lond., 1657, 4to. This was in answer 
to a letter of John Wels, of Little 
Waltham. He died before Jan., 1662. 
Walter Adamson, his succeflbr, con- 
formed. N. ii. 386. 

* The vicar was James Marfhall, adm. 
3rd May, 161 1. In 1650 he is returned 
as ' an able preaching minister.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Was Packhurst his curate? 
The vicar at the restoration was John 
Fuller. He conformed. N. ii 621. 

f Josias Church, 2nd July, 161 o. 
27th Aug., 1647 5 'ordered that institu- 



tion shall be given to John Parkhurst.' 
Jour. H. of Lords ix. 408, p. 652. He 
was still rector in 1650. Lands. MSS. 
459. Parkhurst was succeeded by one 
Smith. MSS. Add. to Classis, B. M. 
Samuel Keeble, infra, succeeded in 
1654. He conformed. N. ii. 531. 
Britteridge was of Sutton Hall. Mor. 
ii. 292. 

X Church. Infra, Memorials. 

|| Peck. Memorials. Mr. King 
kindly informs me that there are two 
wives of Freborne's buried in Prittle- 
well Church. 

§ Sam. Purchas, p. 267, inst. 30th 
Sept., 1629. N. ii. 561. He was the 
son of the well-known author of the 
same name. His father was vicar of 
Eastwood ; a native either of Dunmow 
or of Thaxted, to which living he was 
presented by James I. in 1604. He was 
also rector of St. Martin, Ludgate. 
N. ii. 241, i. 415. The work by which 
his father is best known is the ' Pil- 
grimage,' of which there are three edi- 
tions, 1613, 161 4, 1626, all in folio. 
He also wrote ' Microcosmos j or, the 



The Classes. 



269 



Parishes. 
ASSINGDON. 



ROTCHFORD. 



Hawkewell. % 
South Fambridge, 



Ministers. 

M. Gibson.* 



M. Beard, t 



M. Oresby, 
M. Hopkins. 



Elders. 

John Greene. 
Phil. Boyce. 
Geo. Gilson. 
Thomas Sharpe. 
Edward Emmerson. 
John Brand. 
Henry Berry man. 
Tho. Hubbard. 



Historie of Man : relating the Wonders 
of his Generation, Vanities in his De- 
generation, Necessity of his Regeneration,' 
i2mo., 1629: 'full of the tenderest 
autobiography imaginable.' This Samuel 
was himself an author. He publifhed 'A 
Theatre of Political Flying Insects, 
wherein especially the nature, the work, 
and the manner of right ordering of the 
bee is discovered and described, together 
with Discourses Historical and Observa- 
tions Physical concerning them j and, in a 
second part, are annexed Meditations and 
Observations, Theological and Moral, in 
Three Centuries upon that subject, by 
Samuel Purchas, M.A., and pastor at 
Sutton, in Essex.' Lond., 1657, 4*0. 
To this volume there are several prefatory 
recommendations prefixed, some in prose 
and some in poetry, written mostly by 
neighbouring ministers. He was presented 
to the rectory by Thomas Hobson, who 
was of Sutton Hall. Mor. ii. 291. In 
1650 he is returned as 'an able, godly 
minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. The 
successor of Purchas seems to have been 
Rich. Rochell, who conformed in 1662. 
* John Gibson, inst. 3rd Feb., 1644, 
infra. The Rev. S. Nottidge kindly 
informs me that he was buried, April 7, 
1649. He was succeeded by Sam. 
Keeble, who was afterwards of South 
Shobury, p. 268. In 1650, Keeble is re- 



turned as ' an honest and faithful preacher.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. His successor was 
John Fiiher. Memorials. 

-j- Nicholas Beard, who was presented 
to the rectory, on the resignation of Ed- 
mund Calamy, by Robert, Earl of War- 
wick. N. ii. 497, p. 652. In 1650 he 
is returned as 'a godly minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. 

X Thomas Oresby, infra. Inst. 7th 
Dec, 1643. N. ii. 320. The return, 
in 1650, is 'Thos. Orphy (sic), an able 
preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. He had 
been a hearer of John Cotton, at Boston, 
when he preached much of what after- 
wards appeared in his ' Exposition of John,' 
which was edited by Chr. Scott. Oresby 
wrote a preface to that volume, which 
was publifhed in 1655, at which date he 
was still at Hawkswell. He seems to 
have been succeeded by Josias Church. 
Memorials. 

|| P. 230. The living had been seques- 
tered to one Jackson, the cousin of 
Richard Smith, Prothonotary of the 
Poultry Comptor. Jackson died Aug. 
29, 1645. Peck 5 Desid. Cur. ii. 530. 
John Hopkins was appointed Sept. 4, 
1645. He was dismissed for neglecting 
the cure, June, 1646, and Robert Tourney 
appointed. Add. MSS. 15669, 307, 
310; 15670, 212, 271. In 1650, the 
return is, ' J. Tourney, an able preaching 



270 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Parishes. Ministers. 

Canewdon. * M. Forward. 

Rayleigh. t M. Caley, 



Leighs. % M. Augar, 



Hadley. II M. Wells, 

Rawreth. § M. Warley, 

Barling, fl" 



Elders. 

Ric. Radyard. 
John Marshall. 
John Stillman. 
John Bundock. 
Richard Haddock. 
Richard Pulley, gent. 
Thomas Harrison. 
Jonathan Wyer. 
William Rawlins. 
Thomas Marshall. 
Alexander Gowers. 



minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. Robert 
Tourney became the rector in Jan., 
1660, ' per mort Vicars.' He conformed. 
Newcourt, ii. 2.54, identifies him with the 
sequestered of Springfield Richards, p. 248. 

# P. 220. May 10, 1645. Add. 
MSS. 15669. Forward must have voided 
almost immediately. The return, in 
1650, is '(James) Norris, a godly divine, 
is vicar.' Lands. MSS. 459. He wrote 
two poetical epiftles, the one in Latin, and 
the other in English, prefixed to Purchas's 
Hiftory of Bees, 1656 — p. 269. Jona- 
than Deveraux (infra) seems to have suc- 
ceeded. He conformed. N. ii. 1 2 1. 

f Memorials. 

% Augar ; Memorials. There are 
two persons of the name of Bundock 
buried at Leighs, either of whom may 
have been the elder. John Bundock, 
'maryner,' who died 14th July, 1659, 
aet. 77, or John Bundocke, of St. 
Catherine's, near the Tower, who died 
28th Aug., 1660, aged 58. Haddock 
was the grandfather of the distinguifhed 
admiral, Sir Richard Haddock, and one 
of a family which had been seated at 
Leigh ever since the reign of Edward III. 
Pulley was a solicitor, who was much 



employed in the county sequeftrations, 
and was probably the father of Richard 
Pulley. For this information I am in- 
debted to Mr. King, who has publifhed a 
memoir of the Haddock family, in the 
Appendix to Dunkin's Hiftory of Kent. 

|| William Wells, who was presented to 
the rectory by Robert, Earl of Warwick, 
in 1639. N. ii. 291. The return in 
1650 is, ' Mr. Devorax, of him they hope 
the best, he having been settled but a 
little while.' See N. * Samuel Bull 
seems to have succeeded. He conformed. 

§ P. 246. 14th Nov., 1648. It was 
ordered that ' John Man, M.A., be ap- 
pointed, void by death.' J. H. of Lords 
x. 588, p. 652. The Rev. J. C. White 
kindly informs me that 'Browning died 
some months before the inftitution of 
Man, and that Man was of Emmanuel 
College, Cambridge.' Man is returned 
in 1650, as 'a godly and painful minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. He was still there at 
the reftoration, when he conformed 
N. ii. 489. 

f[ P. 219. The return in 1650 is, 
'John Negus, a hopeful young man, 
he is not yet fully settled.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. 



The Classes. 



271 



Parishes. 

Eastwood. * 
Foulness, f 
hockleigh. j 
North Shobury. || 
Paglesham. § 
Stambridge Magna, 1T 
Shopland. ** 
Wakering Magna, ft 



Ministers. 



Elders 



The Fifth Classis^ called Denzie Classis. 
Denzie Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Maldon Towne. XX M. Israel Hewet, Isaac Allen, Esq. 

Tho. Harris, Esq. 
Tho. Plum, gent. 



* P. 268. Sam. Purchas left his cure 
to his brother about 161 3. Wood, Fast. 
i. 2005 N. i. 415. In 1650, Thomas 
Purkiss, 'an able divine, only the jury 
affirmed him scandalous for tippling.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Memorials. 

f P. 230. Dove had not given up 
possession Aug. 16, 1645. Add. MSS. 
15669, 403. In 1650, 'Mr. Goodwin, 
approved by the parishioners.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Richard Goddiffe conformed. 
N. ii. 274. 

X In 1650, the return is 'John 
Bolneft, not by presentation frOm the 
Committee. He is a very idle, lewd, and 
drunken man.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Memorials. 

|| Gabriel Price? inft. 20th Feb., 

1640. N. ii. In 1650, 'William 
Hawksby, reputed a godly man.' Lands. 
MSS. 459; see p. 261, Memorials. 

§ John Hanfley, inft. 2nd Oct., 

1 641. In 1650, he is returned as 'an 
able, godly preaching minifter.' Lands. 
459. Walker is in error also about him, 
ii. 49. His prebend of Holborn pro- 



bably was sequeftered, but not the living 
of Pagleftiam certainly. N. i. 158. He 
was also the rector of St. Chriftopher's, 
London, but that living he resigned 
before Jan., 1643. N. i. 324. He 
conformed in 1662, and was rewarded 
with the archdeaconry of Colchefter. 
N. i. 93. 

^[ P. 248. The return in 1650 is, 
' Griffith Wood, an honest, painful 
minifter, by sequestration.' Lands. MSS. 
459. Robert Stirrell was the rector at 
the reftoration. He conformed. N. ii. 
542. 

** Probably William Williams, p. 219. 
The return in 1650 is, 'no settled minis- 
ter, but Mr. Joy officiates the cure.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

-j-j- Memorials. 

JJ Hewit, inst. 4th April, 1620, p. 
654. The return in 1650 is, 'All 
Saints, with St. Peter's joyned to it. No 
minifter yet settled, but the patron intends 
to present Mr. Horrocke, a godly and 
able minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. Me- 
morials. 



272 



Appendix to Chap. VU. No. 2. 



Denzie Hundred. Ministers 

Maldon Towne [continued) 



Woodham Water.* 



PuRLEIGH.f 



M. 



Elders. 

Edmund Whitefoot, gent. 
John Stevens, gent. 
John Surtosories, gent. 
Tho. Langdale, gent. 
Isaac Robient, gent. 
M. William Baker. 
Edward Bigg. 
John Andrews, Samuel Eve. 

William Pond. 



* Edmund Caftle. By order of the 
House of Lords, 12th Oct., 1647, on 
the presentation of Charles Fitch, who 
held the manor, 12th Oct., 1647. 
Journals ix. 477. This diftinguifhed man 
was a native of Hatley, Cambridgeshire, 
where he was born in 1606. He was of 
Emmanuel College. He had resigned 
the vicarage of Hatfield Peverel,in 1638. 
He spent a considerable fortune on his 
famous ' Lexicon Heptaglottum,' and also 
a considerable sum on the ' Polyglot,' 
published by Brian Walton, his literary 
contributions to which were also of great 
value. Walton makes no mention of his 
pecuniary services, and even of his literary 
aid he says much less than they deserve. 
In 1650 Castle is returned as 'a godly and 
able minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. In 
1660, he published a thin 4to. pamphlet, 
' Sol Angliae Oriens Auspiciis Carol ii. 
regum Gloriosissimi.' He conformed in 
1662. In 1666 he was made King's 
chaplain, and profefTor of Arabic at 
Cambridge, and in 1668 he obtained a 
prebend at Canterbury. He resigned 
Woodham in 1670, when it should seem 
he became rector of Higham Gobions 
Beds. He died and was buried at Higham 
in 1685, aet 79. N. ii. 685, 318; 
Wood, Fast. ii. 48 ; Biog. Brit. Kippis 
iii. 310 j Mor. ii. 134. 



■J- P. 246. Andrews was shortly suc- 
ceeded by John Rogers, second son of 
Nehemiah, p. 156. He was born at Mes- 
sing, about 1625. He entered the 
miniftry at 19. He came here from St. 
Neot's, Hants. He is returned in 1650 
simply as holding the sequeftration. 
Lands. MSS. 459. In 1651, we find 
him in Ireland, and minifter of an Inde- 
pendent church in the Cathedral at 
Dublin. Thence he returned to London, 
became lecturer at St. Thomas the 
Apoftle, and abandoning Independency, 
declared for the Fifth Monarchy. He 
was a violent opponent of Cromwell and 
his government, and was imprisoned for 
sedition, from July, 1644, to Jan., 1657, 
firft at Lambeth, then at Windsor, and 
finally in the Isle of Wight. Soon after 
his return he was detected in treasonable 
correspondence, but was not molefted 
until Feb,, 1658, when he was com- 
mitted to the Tower, whence he was 
released in April. At the restoration he 
had abandoned theology and taken up 
with medicine. He was made M.D. at 
Utrecht, in 1662, and at Oxford, in 
1664, at which laft date he was practising 
in Bermondsey. Rogers died 22nd July, 
1720. Wood, Ath. ii. 594; Fast. ii. 
159; Chefter, Life of Rogers, 282, 289. 
John Head was rector at the reftoration. 
He conformed. N. ii. 476. 



Denzie Hundred. 
MuNDON.* 
ASHELDHAM. f 

burnham j 
St. Laurence. || 

TlLLAIGHAM (sic.)§ 

Bradwell. ^ 



The Classes. 273 

Ministers. Elders. 

M. Isaac Sendy, Tho. Sorrell. 
M. William Gutry. 
M. Anth. Sams, William Stacey. 
M. John Walker, Jeremy Evered. 

John Death. 

James Noble. 
M. John Sherman, John White. 



* P. 245. The return in 1650 is, 
'James Carey, by sequeftration from 
Thomas Staple.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

f ' William Guthrey, an able minifter, 
by sequeftration.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Memorials. 

% lnft. 23rd July, 1639. * n l &4% 
he was at Rainham, which I suspect to 
be a misprint for Burnham. Infra. He 
was still there in 1650. Lands. MSS. 
459. Robert Wickes was one of his 
successors. Nat. Hevvitson succeeded in 
January, 1660, and conformed. N. 
ii. 114. 

|| P. 239. April 29, 1645. The 
Committee ordered that the living, which 
had been sequeftered from Turner to 
John Brayne, should be sequeftered to 
John Walker. Add. MSS. 15669. 
The return in 1650 is, 'the incumbent 
lately dead.' 

§ The vicar in 1650 was Robert 
Fuller (p. 267), 'an able, godly minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. He seems to have been 
succeeded by John Taverner, who con- 
formed. N. ii. 599. 

f[ P. 220. J. Mare. Sherman was ap- 
pointed to the sequeftration in 1644. In 



f Henricus "} I Ursula 

Nomina ( Priscilla j Paynter Priscilla 

<{ Elizabetha 



1650 he is returned as 'by sequeftration, 
an able minifter.' At the reftoration 
he had some difficulty in retaining his 
living, as John Kawley was actually in- 
stituted in May, 1662, and John More in 
the February following, on the death of 
Kawley- N. ii. 85. Sherman never- 
theless died rector in 1666. The Rev. 
J. Warner obliges me with the inscription 
on a tablet erected to his memory : — 
M. S. I Siste viator, | Urnam inspice 
capacem | Dominum claudit domumq. 

I Johannes Sherman, S. T. P., | Hujus 
Parochiae fidus Paftor, | Annos 22, con- 
tinuosresidens Rector, | Vitricum matrem 
uxorem 2 dam. 11 liberos, | Hue prae- 
missos I Oueis accessere binae mox htiae | 
(Praeter sepultum Cantabrigiae filium 
primogenitum, | ' et cognominem,') | 
Tandem insecutus est | Et ad caros cineres 
civis doctus reversus | Hie jacet placide | 
Olim paluftri marina hac vescebatur aura 

I Nunc antem vere vescitur Aetherea. | 
Obiit 13 Nov. Dom. 1666, | An Aet. 50. 

I Tres ex tertio ventre superftites liberi | 
Ad exemplar parentis discant mori, | Abi 
viator | Et si potis es dinumera. | Uxor 
posuit relicta quondem tertia, | Rebecca 
Sherman I 

Jana ] Georgius "1 



>epultoi 



Johannes | 
Elizabeth J Sherman 



Anna 
Maria 



Anna Maria 
Marianna 



Samuel 



Bezalcel 



Sherman 



J 



Thomas 

Edmund Sherman appears as minister also in 1648. Memorials 
the assistant of John Sherman. White, Morant ii. 375. 



1 Henrietta 



He was probably 



274 



Appendix to Chap. VII, No. 2. 



Denzie Hundred. Ministers. 

Woodham Ortimer M. Nathaniel 

(sic.)* Harrison, 

Stoe (sic.) Marie, t M.James Maiden. 
Mayland. % 
southminster. || 

Steeple. § 
Aldthorne. fl 
Cold Norton. ** 
Crixey. ft 



Elders. 

John Versey. 



M. Wm. Buckley, John Heydon, gent. 



John Winterflood. 
Henry Fairechild. 
William Skelton. 



* Nathaniel Hewitson, presented by 
Sir — Harris, in 1640. In 1650, 'an 
able minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. He 
conformed in 1662, and was rewarded 
with the living of Burnham. p 273. 

f Probably the same whom Newc. ii. 
564, calls James Waldew. He must 
have very shortly resigned the rectory, as 
1 5 th Feb., 1 648, there was an ' order ' for 
the inftitution of Nicholas Chewney to 
the rectory, which is said to be void ' by 
cession of last incumbent.' Jour. H. of 
Lords x. 44. In 1650, the return is 
' John Wright, by what right they know 
not.' Lands. MSS. 459. At the reite- 
ration James Maiden (not Waldew, as 
Newcourt once more has it), was again 
rector. He died before Aug. 1662. 
Ext. MSS. Juxon's regifter, Harl. MSS. 
6100, p. 186. It is singular that the 
name of John Wright also should appear 
a second time in Sept. 10, 1670. N. ib. 
Both Calamy and Palmer say that 
Maiden was ejected, but the extract . 
above quoted diftinctly gives the inftitu- 
tion of John Greswold, 28th Aug., 1662, 
as ' per mortem naturalem Jacobi Maiden.' 

\ 1 6th Dec, 1639. He was still 
there in 1650, 'an able man.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. His successor seems to have 
been Henry Robinson, who conformed. 

|| P. 248. May 24, 1647. The 
living, which had been sequeftered to one 



Nicholetts, who had now left the place, 
was sequeftered to the use of Nehemiah 
Holmes. Add. MSS. 15671, 30, see 
infra. In 1650 he is returned as 'an 
able minister.' Lands. MSS. 459 ; see 
Matching, infra 

§ P. 249. Five parishioners were 
summoned before the Committee, Nov. 
15, 1645, for abusing Lemuel Tuke in 
his officiating the cure. Add. MSS. 
15669, 409. In 1650 the return is, 
'Mr. William Goodrich enjoyeth it. 
Mr. Nettles is incumbent.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Richard Lee, who succeeded 
26th Nov., 1660, 'per mort Nettles,' 
conformed. 

^[ William Danes (sic), 2nd Oct., 
1644. In 1650 the return is, 'William 
Davyes (sic).' Lands. MSS. 459. Danes 
is a clerical error. Davyes' successor was 
Thos. Hawkes, and his, Chamber Griffith, 
who conformed. N. ii. 10. 

# * In 1650, Mr. J. Maiden, (note f ?) 
'a godly man, by sequeftration.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Memorials. 

-f-f The rector was Richard Parker, 
10th Nov., 1 641. He was still here in 
1650. Lands. MSS. 459. He was suc- 
ceeded by Edmund Collett, and he by 
Richard Lee (note §), who also held 
the living of Steeple, and conformed. 
N. ii. 201. 



Denzie Hundred. 

Dengy. * 

Lachingdon c. Lawling. f 

North Fambridge. % 



The Classes. 

Ministers. 



275 



The Sixth ClassiSj called Ongar Classis, 



Ongar Hundred 

High Layer. 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



M. Thos. King, Sir Wm. Mafham, Bart. 

William Mafham, Esq. 

Robert King, sen. 

Tho. Barrington. 

Barnaby King. 
Magdalen Laver. M. Ph. Saunders. § 
Little Laver. ^F William Collins. 

Peter Foster. 



* The rector was Auguftine Hill, 
inft. 31st March, 1630. He was still 
here in 1650 (Lands. MSS. 459), and 
was succeeded on his death before nth 
Jan., 1 661, by Nehemiah Long, who 
conformed at the reftoration. In the 
depositions taken against John Jarvis, of 
Grinfted, and North Fambridge, it is 
said that the pariihioners at Grinfted 
' desire to have Mr. Nehemiah Long to 
be their minifter, who is well known to 
Mr. Harlackenden.' Cole MSS. xxviii. 
67. Long afterwards became rector of 
Steeple also. Newc. ii. 212, 560. 

-f- P. 205. The successor of Howlett 
was Martin Alderson, who had been in- 
cumbent of Dunmow Parva. He is 
called Martin Alders in the Lands. MSS. 
459, and described as 'an able minifter.' 
Alderson conformed in 1662, and died 
before Nov. 1680, still rector of Laching- 
don. N. ii. 355. 

X P. 224. The incumbent, probably 
Samuel Jilden, who was referred to the 
pariftiioners for their approbation, Sept. 



24, 1647. Add. MSS. 15671, 224. 
24th Oct., 1648, there was an order 
made by the Lords that the living, which 
was void by death, should be given to 
Thomas Hilliard. Jour. H. of Lords, 
x. 363. In 1650 the return is, 'Mr. J. 
Hyliard, an honest preacher.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. 

|| King was still there in 1650, 'an 
honourable preacher of the truth.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Memorials. William 
Mafham was the eldeft son of Sir 
William. He married Elizabeth, the 
daughter of Sir John Trevor, Knt. He 
was the father of Sir Francis, the friend 
of John Locke. Locke died here, 28th 
Oct., 1704, and his remains were buried 
in this churchyard. Morant ii. 141. 

§ Memorials. 

^[ John Oliver, inft. 26th June, 1637. 
In 1650, the report is, 'J. O. returned 
by two of his pariihioners, said to be in- 
sufficient, but others assert the contrary.' 
The committee agree with the first. 
Lands. MSS. 459; Collins, Mor. ii. 143'. 



276 



Appendix to Chap. VII No. 2. 



Ongar Hundred. 

North Weald.* 

Morton, f 

Abbas Roding. % 
Belchamp Roding. 
Fifield. § 

BoBBINGWORTH. IT 



Ministers. Elders. 

M. Simon Lince, Tho. Archer, gent. 

Tho. Bennet, gent. 
M. Sam. Head (sic. ) Henry Shippie. 

Robert Paveley. 
M. John Wood. 

Jno. Rust. 
M. Constantine, Rbt. Ashfield, gent. 

John Ting. 
M. John Poole, Robt. Browne, Esq. 



* Lynch, p. 157. He was succeeded 
by Nathaniel Eyre, 28th Aug., 1660. 
Eyre conformed. Bennett, a relation of 
Lord Ossulfton, who married the eldest 
daughter of Sir Denner Strutt, of Warley 
Hall. Morant, ii. 115. 

f Samuel Hoard, p. 155. 

J Memorials. 

|| The rector was John Siday. He 
was admitted here 15th Aug., 1642, on 
the presentation of William Siday, of 
whom see Mor. ii. 220; N. ii. 361, 
503. He is returned in 1650 as 'an 
able, godly preaching minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Siday conformed. 

§ This was Conftantine Jessop. He 
was appointed to the incumbency by an 
order of the House of Commons, Nov. 3, 
1643. Jessop left in August, 1647. Add. 
MSS. 1 667 1, 78. Jessop was succeeded 
by Edmund Bruer. He was succeeded 
by Henry Havers (Memorials) and Havers 
by Anthony Walker, as I am kindly in- 
formed by the Rev. H. Gibson, in 1650. 
The Parliamentary return in that year is, 
' Mr. Walker. Mr. Havers supplies the 
cure till Michaelmas next, by appoint- 
ment of Mr. Walker.' Lands. MSS. 
459. Wood, Ath. ii. 269, whose whole 
account of Jessop is singularly confused, 
says, that he succeeded John Owen at 
Coggeshall, and also that he was some 
time minifter of St. Nicholas, Bristol ; 
but it is clear from the above that he is 



mistaken in saying that he afterwards 
became rector of Fyfield, in Essex, ' where 
I find him in 1660.' Besides which, he 
was at Wimborne, in Dorset, as early as 
Sept. 1654, and he there died in April, 
1658. Jessop's preface to a 'Modest 
Vindication of the Doctrine of Conditions 
in the Covenant of Grace,' by John 
Graile, minister of the Gospel at Tid- 
worth, in the county of Wilts. (London, 
1655, 4to.) Below the Marchioness 
of Exeter's tomb, in the church at Wim- 
borne, on a black marble tablet on the 
wall is this inscription : ' Here wayteth, 
in expectation of a glorious resurrection, 
the body of Constant Jessop, some time 
paftor of this place, who, after he had 
lived 53 years, exchanged this mortal life 
for an immortal one on the 16th day of 
April, 1658. Constans et fidelis con- 
sequitur proemium.' Hutchins, Hist, of 
Dorsetsh. ii. 546. Besides the preface 
above quoted, Jessop also published ' The 
Angel of the Church of Ephesus,' on 
Revelations ii. 1. London, 1644, 4to. 
1660. 

9\ John Poole, ' a constant preaching 
minister, and well approved by the 
parishioners.' Lands. MSS. 459. Nicholas 
Searle seems to have conformed. N. ii. 
266. Browne, of Blake Hall, Mor. ii. 
149. Poole, of Bobbingworth Hall. 
Mor. ii. 149. 



The Classes. 



277 



Ongab Hundred. Ministers. 

Bobbingworth {continued) 

Shelley. * 

Chipping ONGAR.f M. Hen. Havers, 

Grinsted. % 

High Ongar. || M.Jno. Lavender, 

Norton Mandeville. M. Whiston,§ 

Standon. H 

Kelvedon. ** M. Geo. Browne^ (sic.) 

Navestock. ff 

Stamford Rivers. % % M.Mat. Ellestone, 



Elders. 

John Poole. 
Stephen Summer. 
Samuel Calford. 
Tho. Savill. 
Robert Young, Esq. 
Jacob Archer, Esq. 
William Wolvit, Esq. 
James Darnell, gent. 
Tho. Everer, gent. 
Richard Bancks, gent. 
Zech. Bell, gent. 
Ric. Petchie. 
Isaac Dacres, gent. 
Hen. Prior. 
John Rippingale. 
Anthony Luther, Esq. 
Henry Cramp. 
Samson Sheffield, Esq. 
Richard Doe, Esq. 
Wm. Attwood, Esq. 
Tho. Cranefield, gent. 
John Man, gent. 



* P. 157. Memorials. 

f Memorials. 

X P- 232. In 1650 the return is, 
'M. Nathan Lacy, a constant preacher, 
and well approved by the Parliament.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Nathan Lacy was 
confirmed in the rectory 25th Feb., 1661, 
on the sequestration of Thomas Punter. 
He conformed. N. ii. 209. 

|| Memorials. 

§ In 1650, he is returned as ' an able, 
godly minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

f[ Ant. Sawbridge ? Inst. 8th Aug. 
1633. He was still there in 1650. Lands. 
MSS. 459. Ed. Ottway, 22nd Aug. 
1660, conformed. 

** Hatch. George Bound, by ap- 



pointment of Committee for Plundered 
Ministers, M. Withers, the incumbent, 
being since dead, Oct. 25, 1645. Add. 
MSS. 15669, 388. From information 
kindly sent me by the Rev. J. Bannifter, 
it appears that Bound succeeded Nathaniel 
Bettes. He was still at Kelvedon in 1650, 
' a noble, godly preaching minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. His successor was 
Charles Cullen, who conformed in 1 662. 
N. ii. 352. Luther was of Miles. He 
was buried in the church here. Morant 
i. 186. See Memorials. 

ff Memorials. 

XX Memorials. Attwood was of Little- 
bury and Rockenhoe. Mor. i. 155. 



278 



Appendix to Chap, VI L No. 2. 



Ongar Hundred. Ministers. 

Stapleford Tawney.* M. Edward 

Bentall, 



Theydon GAMON.f M. Jo. Ferib 

Theydon Boys. J 
Lambourne. I 

Chigwell. § 

LOWTON fl" 



Elders. 

Fra. Stonard, Esq. 
Tho. How, gent. 
Jo. Springham. 
Tho. Blomefield. 
Dn. Dunn, Esq. 
Major Robert Beard. 
Tho. Rogers. 
William Moyne. 
Geo. Holloway. 
M.Gamaliel Carre, Wm. Nicholls, gent, 
Wm. Waylett, gent. 
Hugh Haselland. 
M. Peter Watkinson, Tho. Hollis, gent. 

William Browne, gent. 
M. Rich. Willis, Capt. Robert Davies. 
Hen. Osborne, gent. 



The Seventh Classis, called Harlow and Waltham Classis. 

Harlow Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Hatfield Broad- M.Jo. Warren,** Sir Tho. Barrington, 
oake. Kt. and Baronet. 



* Benthall was of Stapleford Abbot in 
1648. Memorials. 

•j- Memorials. Dunn, son of Sir 
Daniel Dunne, of Garnifh Hall. Mor. 
i. 158. 

J P. 250. The return in 1650 is, 
' no minifter, the tenant not having ap- 
pointed one for many years.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. The tenant was the impro- 
priator, Edward Elrington, of Birch Hall. 
Mor. i. 163. 

|| P. 238. Carr, appointed by order 
of the House of Commons, 22nd April, 
1643. Jour. iii. 56, p. 564. In 1650, 
the return is, ' Gamaliel Carr, by my 
instructions, an able, godly minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Samuel Nam seems 



to have been a successor. He is returned 
as ' defunct' at the archdeacon's visitation, 
22nd Oct., 1662. Visitation Book. 

§ P. 220. Peter Watkinson, by order 
of the House of Commons, 12th July, 
1643.- Journals iii. 163. The return in 
1650 is, i no settled minifters, the vicarage 
is supplied by such as they can provide.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

f[ Presented to the rectory by Daniel 
Thelwell, and others, and admitted 30th 
Aug., 1638. 'A godly and painful 
preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. Willis 
was succeeded by Edward Wyrley, who 
conformed in 1662. N. ii. 396. 

** Memorials. 



The Classes. 



279 



Harlow Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Hatfield Broadoake [continued) William Man. 



gent. 



Hallingbury Magna* M. William 

Hales, 
Hallingbury PARVA.f M.Jo. Wilson, 



Shering. J 
Matching. 
Latten. § 



M. John Yardley, 
M. Tho. Deane, 
Netswell. ^ M. Tho. Cramphorne, 
Parndon Mag. ** M. Jeremy Dike, 
Parndon Parva. ft 



Henry Wibert. 
Ric. Rogers. 
Daniel Fuller, gent. 
Robert Heath. 
Robert Tayler, gent. 
Geo. King, gent. 
Daniel Cramphorne. 
William Sampson. 
W. Stacie,ofRandell's. 
Dan. Hutson. 
Sir Wm. Martin, Kt. 
Jo. Banifter, gent. 
William Beard. 
William Hatts. 
Nic. Chefter. 



* P. 233. Hales succeeded Osbal- 
fton, who was appointed to Thurman's 
sequeftration. Add. MSS. 15669, 230. 
He was still there in 1650, 'an able, 
godly preaching minifter.' Lands. MSS. 
459. Newcourt gives the date of Hales 1 
admiffion as June, 1654. This was pro- 
bably the date of the death of Thurman, 
when Hales was duly presented by the 
patron. Hales conformed. N. ii. 296. 

■f- P. 233. By appointment of the 
committee, before May 13, 1647. Add. 
MSS 1 5671, 19. 'An able preaching 
minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. In the 
next generation ? Monkbury belonged to 
the Rev. Robert Tayler, who died about 
1719. Mor. ii. 516. 

X Memorials. 

|| P. 242. John Allen was the 
minifter, by order of the House of Com- 
mons, 13th July, 1643. Journals iii. 
164. The return in 1650 is, * Nathaniel 
Long, a godly, able, painful preaching 
minifter. 1 Lands. MSS. 459. N. ii. 



41 1, has the name of Nehemiah Holmes, 
but without any date of admittance or 
avoidance. 

§ Admitted rector 18th May, 1632. 
N. ii. 367. 'Thos. Dunn (sic), an able 
and godly preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Dunn conformed in 1662. 

^[ Admitted 8th May, 1640. N. ii. 
435. 'A godly preaching minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Seep. 157. Cramphorne con- 
formed in 1662. N. ib. Sir "W. Martin 
was then lord of the manor. He died in 
1679, and was buried in this church. 
Mor. i. 490. Banifter was probably one 
of the Great Eafton family. Mor. i. 

43 2 > 433- 

** Memorials. 

-f-f The return in 1650 is, 'William 
Houghton, an able preaching minifter.' 
The inftitution of Henry Wolton, 26th 
Oct., 1660, is given in Juxon's regifter, 
as ' ad rectoriam ecclesiae parochialis de 
Parnedon parva jam legitime vac' Har- 
leian MSS. 6100, p 186. 



280 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Harlow Hundred. 
RoYDON. * 

Harlow, -j- 



Ministers. Elders. 

Oliver Harvey. 
Samuel Stracey. 
M. Edw. Spranger, Capt. Robt. Tomson. 
Capt. John Savill. 
Samuel Campaes,gent. 
Robert Reeve, gent. 



Waltham Hundred. 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



Waltham Abbey. J M. Price, 



Edward Golding, gent. 

John Altcock, gent. 

Tho. Winpeare, gent. 
Epping. II M. H. Wilkinson, Lord Grey, of Werk. 

William Bennet. 

Ric. Hunt. 
Chinckford. § M. Sam. Tnxey, M. Gunnerie. 

M. Wallenger. 



* The vicar probably was Breckett 
Smith. N.ii. 509. The return in 1650 
is * Brocket (sic) Smith, he preacheth 
conftantly, but is returned to the jurors 
to be of scandalous life, but he hath pro- 
duced good teftimonials.' Lands. MSS. 
459. Smith seems to have conformed in 
1662. 

f Admitted 30th April, 1 61 7, see p. 
653. 'An able, godly preaching minis- 
ter.' Lands. MSS. 459. Spranger con- 
formed in 1662. Robert Reeve, of 
Hubert's Hall. Mor. ii. 484. 

J The Rev. James Francis informs me 
that there are no traces of Price in the 
regifter. If Newc. be correcl: in assigning 
1640 as the date at which Thos. Fuller 
became the incumbent, he muft have left 
for a time, but he soon returned, as in 
1650 the entry in the Lands. MSS. 459, 
is, < Mr. Fuller, an able, godly preaching 
minifter.' Fuller, of course, conformed 
in 1662. He was the well-known 



writer of that name. There were pub- 
liihed by the late Mr. Pickering, ' Memo- 
rials of Thos. Fuller, D.D., by the Rev. 
A. F. Russell.' 

|| Memorials. Lord Grey was of 
Epping Bury. He was the eldeft son of 
Sir Ralph Grey, of Chillingham, in 
Northumberland, created a baronet 15th 
June, 16195 and nth Feb., 1623, 
Baron Grey, of Werke, in the county of 
Northumberland. He purchased Epping 
Bury of the Earl of Winchelsea, in 1635. 
Morant ii. 146. 

§ P. 223. Toxey, afterwards of Ley- 
ton ? Memorials. The minifter in 
1650 was 'f)r. Byrome, by order of the 
Parliament.' Lands. MSS. 459. In 
1655 Robert Plume became the minifter ; 
and, in 1657, Plume was succeeded by 
Thomas Witham, afterwards of Burbrook. 
Lyson's Environs i. 657. There was a 
Thomas Wallenger, of Warley Hall, at 
this date. Morant i. 113. 



The Clc 



281 



Waltham Hundred. 

Nasing. * 



Ministers. 

M. Jo. Harper, 



Elders, 



William Capp, gent. 
John Ruggles, gent. 



The Eighth Classis^ called Dunmowe and Freshwell Classis. 

Elders. 

M. Collard. 
John Searle, gent. 
William Cotton, gent. 
Robt. Milburne, gent. 
Robt. Calthorpe, gent. 
William Swallow. 
Andrew Finch, gent. 
Edw. Hadsley, Esq. 
Jo. Judd, gent. 
Capt. Edw. Stileman. 
Philemon Brewer. 



Dunmowe Hundred. 


M 


[NISTERS. 


Barnestone. t 


M. 


Beadle, 


Broxted. % 


M. 


Chadwick, 


Chickney. II 






Dunmowe Mag. § 






Dunmowe Parva.1I 


M 


Alderson, 


Canefield Mag.** 


M. 


Hearne, 


CANEFIELDPARVA.ft M. 


Nowell, 



Easter Alta. J J 



* Memorials. 

-f- Beadle, Memorials. Collard left a 
bequeft to the poor of the parifh of Barn- 
ston. He was of the Albanes. Mor. 
ii. 450. 

J Chawreth. Chadwick presented to 
the rectory in 161 5. 'A very able and 
godly minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. John 
Chadwick was succeeded by John Cary, 
who resigned before March, 1660, and 
Cary by Robert Poole, who seems to have 
conformed. Newcourt ii. 127. 

|| Memorials. 

§ Memorials. 

^j" Martin Alderson, afterwards of 
Lachingdon. N. ii. 231, p. 274. In the 
S. P. O. MSS. Int. cclxxxvi. p. 312, 
there is an order for £50 to be paid out 
of the tithes of Little Dunmow to the 
minister of the parish church of Dunmowe, 
under date June 3, 1646. The return in 
1650 is, 'Mr. William Skingle, a godly 



preaching minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Skingle seems to have conformed. N. ib. 

** P. 240. Jeremiah Home, by ap- 
pointment of the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters, May 22, 1645. Add - MSS. 
15669, 165. Francis Bridge was minis- 
ter in 1648. He is returned in 1650 as 
' an able divine.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Bridge died before Jan., 1662, when he 
was succeeded by Robert Hasserton, who 
conformed in that year. N. ii. 123. 

ff Samuel Nowell, infra. The Rev. 
C. L. Smith obliges me with an extract 
from the parish regifter, which shows that 
Noell (sic.) was buried April 2, 1649. 
The return in 1650 is, 'John Glascock, 
an able preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Glascock died before nth Oct., 1661, 
when he was succeeded by John Peachie, 
who conformed in 1662. N. ii. 124. 

JJ Memorials. 



282 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Dunmowe Hundred. 

Easter Bona. * 



Ministers. 



Eason Mag. t 
Eason Parva. J 

LlNSELL. || 

Mashbury. § 

Roding Alba. f[ 

,, Alta. 

,, Barnish. ft 

„ Aythorp. J J 



M. Cleyton, 



M. Bates, 

M. Collins, 

M. Sherwood, ** 



Elders. 

Jo. Rolf. 
J. Lack. 
M. Jo. Mead. 
Francis Bowles. 
John Salmon, jun. 
M. Walter Luckin. 
Jo. Sumpner. 
Dan. Marshall. 



* The vicar was John Lichfield, who 
was presented to the living by Robert, 
Earl of Warwick; Edward, Earl of Man- 
chester 5 and Edmund Calamy, in 1645. 
N. ii. 234. He is returned in 1650 as 
' a very godly and able minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Lichfield conformed. 

f P. 230. Memorials. Mead, of 
Duton Hill. Mor. ii. 434. 

$ The rector was John Dockley, pre- 
sented by William, Lord Maynard, in 
1639. N. ii. 138. He is returned in 
1650, as 'an able preaching minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Dockley conformed 
in 1662, and was succeeded on his death, 
17th Aug., 1663, by Thomas Kenn, 
who was afterwards Bishop of Bath and 
Wells. N. ii. 238. 'Life of Bishop 
Kenn, by a Layman.' London, 1854, 
2 vols. 8vo. 

|| Elisha Pratt, infra, inst. 3rd Aug., 
1635. In 1650, 'a very able, honest 
preaching minifter.' Tho. Conftable suc- 
ceeded. Memorials. 

§ P. 242. Henry Bates. Add. MSS. 
15671. Sept. 23, 1647, see infra. 
The return in 1650 is, 'Mr. Henry 
Bates, not approved of by the parishioners 
.... how Mr. Bates came in is not 
to be discovered.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Walker says, Abraham Pinchback was 



presented to the living in 1654, ii. 251. 
Soon after the reftoration, William 
Alchorne was the rector. He con- 
formed, ii. 248. The Luckins were an 
old Mashbury family. 
^1" Memorials. 

** P. 246. In the Committee Book, 
under date Sept. 18, 1646, it is ordered 
that 'Joseph Sherwood, having relinquished 
the rectory, it is now sequestered to the 
use of Francis Hills.' Add. MSS. 15670, 
434. Hill was still there in 1650. 
Lands. MSS. 459. Hill conformed. N. 
ii. 501. The Rev. E. Maxwell obliges 
me with several extracts from the parifh 
regifters, among them one relating to the 
marriage of Francis Hill to Elizabeth 
Savile, at St. Peter's, Cornhill, London, 
Dec. 15, 1646, and another recording the 
burial of Hill at High Rooding, April 3, 
1694. 

f-f- The incumbent was Wm. Meade, 
who came here in 1637. In 1650 he 
is returned as ' not an able nor a preach- 
ing minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. He 
seems to have conformed in 1662. N. ib. 

JJ The rector seems to have been 
Richard Argol, who is returned in 1650 
as ' an able divine.' Lands. MSS. 459, 
compare Newc. ii. 505. Argol conformed 
in 1662. 



The Classes. 



283 



Dunmowe Hundred. Ministers. 

,, Margaret.* 

,, Plumbea. f 
Shellow Bowels. % 
Thaxted. II 

TlLTIE. § 

WlLLINGDALE DoE.1T M. Powell, 

Willingdale Spain.** M. Nicholas. 



Elders. 

Daniel Algor. 
William Alger. 
William Purchas. 
Edward Mead. 
Simon Horndon. 
Jo. Guyver, gent. 
Nath. Norris. 



Freshwell Hundred. 
ASHDON. ft 

Bardfield Mag. J J 

* The rector was John Stable, who 
was admitted 17th Dec, 1635. N. ii. 
506. He is returned in the Lands. MSS. 
as 'an able preacher.' John was suc- 
ceeded in 1660 by Thomas Stable, who 
conformed. 

-f- Thomas Brand. He was here in 
1635. See 'Annesley's Life and Funeral 
Sermon of the Rev. Mr. T. Brand.' 
London, 1694. This Brand was the son 
of the rector of Leaden Roding. In 1650 
the return is, ' Mr. Thomas Brand, a 
preaching minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Brand died before July, 1660, when he 
was succeeded by John Jackson, who 
conformed. 

J The rector possibly may have been 
Thomas Keene. John Reeve was rector 
in 1650, 'an able preaching minister.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Reeve conformed. 
N. ii. 522. 

|| Memorials. 

§ The incumbent may have been 
Henry Cook. N. ii. 600. In 1650, the 
return is, ( supplied for the most part by 
Lord Maynard's chaplain.' Lands. MSS. 

459- 

ff P. 254. John Powell ? Memo- 
rials. 

** Anthony Nicholas, who was pre- 



Ministers. Elders. 

John Bowtell. 

Sir Martin Lumley. 



Bart. 



sented to the rectory by Charles I., in 
1642. He seems to have conformed. 
N. ii. 670. He is only mentioned by 
name in 1650. The Rev. W. R. Parker 
obliges me with several extracts from the 
parish regifters relating to Nicholas, but 
there is no record there of his death. 

ff Samuel Johnson was rector. Johnson 
was admitted 1st July, 1640. In the 
MSS. addition to the Classis, he is called 
Dr. Johnson. In 1650, he is returned as 
'an able divine.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Johnson died in 1658. Cole MSS. 
xxx. 93. His successor was Chriftopher 
Fleete, who conformed. 

XX P- 284. John Packenham was still 
rector. In 1650 the return is, ' Mr. John 
Packingham (sic) does not officiate himself, 
but hath put in Mr. John Morde, to whom 
he hath made a lease of it for twenty years, 
eleven of it to come.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Morde, therefore, was the officiating 
minifter at this date. He was succeeded 
by Samuel Hall. See Bardfield Saling, 
infra. Sir M . Lumley, of Bardfield Hall, 
born 1604, High Sheriff, 1639, created 
a Baronet, 1640. Succeeded to the re- 
presentation of the county on the eleva- 
tion of Lord Rich to the peerage. Mor. 
ii. 520. Pari. Hist. ii. 607. 



284 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Freshwell Hundred. Ministers 

Bardfield Mag [continued). 
bumpsted helion. * 
Bardfield Parva/j- 
,, Saling. J 
Hempsted. II 
Hadstock. § 
Radwinter. fl" 
Samford Mag. ** 



M. Lunne. 



M. Wallis, 

M. Veale, 
M. Newton. 



Elders. 

James Hart, gent. 
Ric. Wright. 
M. Tho. Wall. 
M. Joseph Hall. 
M. Joseph Stiles. 

Ric. Duerdon. 



,, Parva. ft M. Pennington. 
The Ninth Classis, called Clavering and Uttlesford Classis. 



Clavering Hundred. 

Bearden. XX 
Clavering. II II 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



M. John Moore, 



Edward Humphrey. 
John Chapman, gent. 
Capt. Hatch. 



* The vicar was Theodore Cowle? 
who was admitted 15th Jan., 1635. N. 
ii. no. The return in 1650 is, 'Mr. 
Theodore Cole (sic), an able divine.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Cowle conformed. 
N. ib. 

f Thomas Lund, admitted to the 
rectory 13th Sept., 161 6. N. ii. 31. In 
1650, the return is, 'Mr. Thomas Lunn 
(sic), an able preaching minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Lund seems to have con- 
formed in 1662. Wall was of Little 
Bardfield Hall. Mor. ii. 523. 

J Possibly Samuel Hall, who was here 
in 1650, when he is returned as 'an able 
preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. He re- 
moved to Bardfield Magna, where he 
seems to have conformed, p. 

|| Memorials. 

§ See p. 232. Mr. Thomas Wallis, 
' an able preaching minister.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Walker says that Martin 
Simpson obtained the living in 1654, ii. 
411. Adiel Baynard succeeded 23rd 



Jan., 1662, on the cession of Young. 
Baynard conformed. N. ii. 292. 

f[ Voyle. Memorials. 

* # Samuel Newton. Memorials. 

•f-j- P. 248. ' Mr. Israel Pennington, a 
preaching minister, put in by Parliament.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. John Wale seems to 
have succeeded. The entry of his suc- 
cessor, Edward Webster, is ' per res. Wale.' 
Webster conformed. Newc. ii. 516. 

XX The curate was John Waite. N. ii. 
55. In 1650, he is returned as ' an able 
divine.' Lands MSS. 459. Berden was 
the native place of Joseph Mede, of whom 
Fuller says, ' for things past he was a 
perfect historian, for things present a judi- 
cious novilant, and for things to come a 
prudential (not to say prophetical) con- 
jecturer.' Worthies, 335, ed. 1662. 
Mede was born, 1586, and died 1638. 
Brooks Lives, ii. 429. 

1 1| Moore, Memorials. Hatch was of 
Geddings. Mor. ii. 613. 



The Classes. 



285 



Clavering Hundred. 

Farnham. * 
Langley. 
Maun den. t 

OUGELEY. % 



Ministers. 

M. Giles Archer. 



Elders. 



Uttlesford Hundred. 

Arxden. II 

BlRCHANGER. § 



Ministers. Elders. 

M. Rich. Cutts. 
John Norris. 
William Read, gent. 



Chester Parva. IF M. John Houghton, 
Chissell Mag. ** 

„ Parva. ft M. James Willett, Tho. Aylloffe, Esq. 



* Admitted to the rectory 27th April, 
1644. N. ii. 256. 'An able preaching 
minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. Archer 
conformed. N. ib. The predecessor of 



Giles Archer was 
Memorials. 

f P. 239. The 
thaniel Rawlins. 



William Sedgwick. 

incumbent was Na- 
Additional MSS. 
15670, p. 290, June 13, 1646. The 
return in 1650 is, 'Mr. Paul Clement 
is hired.' Lands. MSS. 459. James 
Hellam succeeded afterwards. He re- 
signed before 6th April, 1663. N. 
ii. 403. 

J Possibly Richard Smith, adm. 30th 
March (N. ii. 614), 1630. Memorials. 

|| P. 219. Memorials. Cutts was of 
Wood Hall, brother of Sir Henry Cutts. 
Morant ii. 589. 

§ The then rector was William 
Parsons, who had been presented by 
Winchefter College, Oxford, 1641. N. 
ii. 63. Wood says of him, under date 
Aug. 2, 1658: 'He had been a great 
sufferer by the Presbyterians, and had 
been kept in jail at Cambridge 19 weeks 
for his loyalty to Chatles I after- 
wards returning to his small living in 
Birchanger, in Essex, did usually read the 



Common Prayer there in the times of 
usurpation .... After his Majesty's 
refloration, he became prebendary of 
Chichester, rector of Lambourne, and 
vicar of Great Dunmow, in Essex. At 
the laft of which places, he dying of an 
apoplexy, was buried there nth July, 
1 67 1, aged 72 years.' Fast. ii. 132. 
Mor. ii. 575. In 1650 the return is, 
' William Parsons, a preaching minister,' 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

f[ Admitted Feb. 25, 16 16, on the 
presentation of Eliza Houghton, widow. 
N. ii. 134. He was still there in 1650. 
Lands. MSS. 459. His successor, John 
Petchell, resigned before nth Dec, 1661, 
when John Warren became rector. 
Warren conformed. 

** P. 224. The return in 1650 is, 'no 
settled minister, the fault being in the 
sequeftered, who had received the profits 
some years.' Lands. MSS. 459. John 
Ney succeeded in 166 1. He conformed. 
N. ii. 150. 

-f-f Willett. Memorials. Ayloffe was 
the son of Sir William Ayloff. He held 
the manor of Nether Chishill at this date. 
Mor. ii. 608. 



286 



Appendix to Chap. VI L No. 2. 



Uttlesford Hundred. 



Ministers. 



Debden. * 

Elmdon. f 
Elsenham. % 
Henham. II 
Heydon. § 

LlTTLEBURY.^F 

Newport. ** 



M. Glover, 

M. William Prynne, 

M. George Wilson, 



M. Henry Prime, 



QtJENDON. ft 
RlCKLING. f J 

Stansted Mountfitchet. 



Elders. 

Tho. Hammon, gent. 
Saml. Chapman, gent. 
Tho. Stock, gent. 



Tho. Raymond, gent. 
Jo. Corbet, gent. 
Jo. Bigg, gent. 
Tho. Martin, gent. 



Timothy Middleton. 
William Vincent. 



Takeley.§ 



M. Samuel Story. 



* P. 228. Glover. Memorials. 

-f- Prynne, infra. Admitted 26th 
April, 1645. N. ii. 242. He is returned 
in 1650 as 'an able divine.' Lands. MSS. 
459. Prynne's successor was John 
Bradgate, of whom the Rev. J. Barr 
obliges me with an extract form the 
parish regifter relating to a collection 
made by him Sept. 1655 or 1658, he is 
not certain which. The admission of 
Samuel Fuller, 8th Aug., 1663, is given 
as 'per cess. Bradgate.' N. ii. 242. 

J P. 155. June 17, 1646, £60 was 
awarded from the sequestration of Mr. 
Talkarne, at Bumpsted Helion, to Mr. 
Wilson, minister of Elsenham. S. P. O. 
Dom. Ser. Interr. cclxxxvi. 65. John 
Tallakarne was of Olmsted Hall. He is 
buried in the chancel at Bumsted. Mor. 
ii* 533- J onn Curtis, afterwards of 
Takely and of Thaxted, seems to have 
been vicar at the restoration. He con- 
formed. N. ii. 246. 

|| Adiel Baynard, inst. 1st Aug., 1644. 
He was still here in 1650, 'a preaching 
minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. See p. 284. 
Memorials. 



§ P. 232. Young was still rector in 
1650, when he is returned as 'an able 
preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. Stephen 
Chapwell succeeded in 1652. He appears 
to have conformed. N. ii. 294. 

f[ P. 239. The return in 1650 is, 
'no settled minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

** The return in 1650 is, 'no incum- 
bent.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

ff The return in 1650 is, 'Mr. John 
Denifer, a preaching minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. See Memorials. 

JJ The vicarage was now vacant, as 
the return in 1650 is, 'no settled minifter, 
nor hath been these seven years.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. 

|| Memorials. Middleton was the 
second son of Sir Thomas Middleton, 
Knt. The elder was seated at Bendfield 
Bury. Mor. ii. 578. 

§ § P. 249. June 17, 1646. There 
was an order for £50 to be paid out of 
Wimbish for the maintenance of the 
minifter. MSS. S. P. O. Dom. Ser. 
Inter, cclxxxvi. 98, cclxxxvii. 511. July 
30, 1646. The old sequeftrators prayed 
to be released, and new ones were ap- 



The Classes. 



287 



Uttlesford Hundred. Ministers 

Walden. * M. Bentfield, 



Welden Lofts. t 
Wenden Ambo. % 
Wickham Bonnet. 

WlDDINGTON. $ 

WlMBISH.1T 

Chrishall.** 

STRETHALL.ft 



Elders. 

Jno.Thorowgood, gent. 
Frs. Williamson, gent. 
M. Burrowes. 
Richard Reynolds. 
William Mawie. 
Capt. Morrell. 
Tho. Young. 
Ric. Woodley, gent. 
M. Rowland Green- Nat. Wright, gent. 
wood, 



The Tenth Classis^ called Hinckford Classis. 

Hinckford Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Bumstead. XX M. J. Borodale. Kalph (sic) Hill. 

Sam. Bell. 



pointed. Add. MSS. 15670, 321. The 
return in 1650 is, 'Mr. S. Rich, an able 
preaching minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
John Curtis was admitted 1st July, 1661, 
'per mort ult. incumb.,' which, I presume, 
refers to Heard, p. 249. He conformed. 

* The vicar probably Nic. Graye. 
N. ii. 627. In 1650, ' Mr. John Bent- 
field, an able divine.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

•f Wendon. Probably John Mount- 
ford, 13th Jan., 1 641. N. ii. 648. The 
return in 1650 is, 'Mr. Bartholomew 
Mountford, an able preacher.' .Lands. 
MSS. 459. Bartholomew conformed. 

J Great and Little Wendon were 
united about 1650. N. ii. 650. In 
1650, 'Mr. John Warren (p. 278?), at 
Wendon Parva.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

|| Theophilus Aylmer, presented by 
Charles I. in 1627. N. ii. 660. The 
return in 1650 is, 'Mr. Tho. (ne) 
Aylmer.' Lands. MSS. 459. Aylmer 
conformed. 

§ Nicholas Searle, 15th Dec, 1637. 
See Bobbingworth, p. 276. He is re- 
turned in 1650 as, 'an able preaching 



minister.' Lands. MSS. 459. He sur- 
vived the reftoration, and conformed. 
Woodley was of Swains. Mor. ii. 567. 

f[ P. 254. Greenwood was vicar. 
Admitted 9th May, 1634. He was suc- 
ceeded in Nov., 1657, by Edm. Heywood, 
who conformed. N. ii. 674. 

## The vicar in 1640 was Thomas 
King. N. ii. 196, p. 275. The return 
in 1650 is, 'Mr. John Griffin, an able 
preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. In 1657 
John Debnam was admitted, 1st May. 
He conformed. 

ff 'Mr. John Hammond, for twelve 
years last past, a preaching minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. He was admitted 
26th May, 1638. Hammond conformed. 
N. ii. 565. 

JJ Steeple Bumftead. Stephen Mar- 
fhall preached at the funeral of Borodale. 
Memorials John Wilson was minifter 
in 1648. The return in 1650 is, 'the 
laft incumbent is lately dead.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Geo. Hyer was admitted 
22nd Sept., 1662. N. ii. 112. 



288 



dppendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Hinckford Hundred. 

Stambourne. * 
Bride-brooke. f 



MlN] 



M. J. Parnell, 
M. J. Gent. 



FOXEARTH. % 

Pentloe. II 

OviNGTON. § 

Belchamp Walter, IT 

St. Paul.** 
Oten. ft 



Elders. 

Stephen Hints. 
Geo. Pike, Esq. 
Martin Sparrow. 
Jo. Isaac, gent. 
Tho. Sandall. 
Sam. Pepps, gent. 
Oliver Raymon (sic), 

Esq. 
Tho. Dyer, gent. 
William Givers, gent. 



* Memorials. 

f Walker says there was a sequestra- 
tion here, ii. 199, but it is another of 
his misstatements. John Gent, who was 
inft. 1 2th May, 1632, continued re£lor 
until 1 65 1, when he was succeeded by 
John (? Tho.) Thompson, w.ho was 
redlor till his death, when Tho. Witham, 
p. 280, succeeded, June, 1661. For the 
dates I am indebted to the present redlor. 
Gent is returned in 1650, 'as an able, 
godly preaching minister.' Lands. MSS. 
459. Witham conformed. N. ii. 63. 
Pike was of Bathorne. Mor. ii. 344. 

\ John Firmin, admitted 8th June, 
1638. He was still there in 1650, 'a 
godly preaching minifter.' Lands. MSS. 
459. In 1656, Firmin was succeeded by 
Thomas Kempe, who conformed. N. 
ii. 275. 

|| Memorials. 

§ Peter Southill, 7th Feb., 1634. 
N. ii. 457. In 1650 the return is, 'Peter 
St. Hill (sic), an able, godly preaching 
minifter.' Lands. MSS. 459. Southill 
was succeeded, in 1655, by John Thomas, 
who conformed, ib. Pepys, one of the 
Pool family, Yeldham. Morant ii. 301, 
302, 303, 618. 

f| The vicar, probably, was John 
Wright. In 1650 the return is, < John 



Firmin, clerk, an able and godly minis- 
ter.' Lands. MSS. 459. Firmin's name 
does not occur in N. ii. 45. Between 
1584 and 1678, he has only the fol- 
lowing two names, without any dates of 
admission or avoidance : Will. Smithies, 
John Wright. There was a William 
Smithies at Rayne in 1648, Memorials, 
and at Stanway in 1650. Mor. ii. 330, 
Infra. Oliver Raymond. Mor. ii. 330. 

** Robert Fisher. Depositions were 
taken against Fisher 10th May, 1644, 
when three witnesses deposed to his 
' having been active in enforcing the 
rails ; ' three, to his ' being a common 
swearer j' three, to his ' suffering the pro- 
faning of the Sabbath without reproof j' 
and three, to his ' reading the King's pro- 
clamations very loudly and diftinctly, but 
the ordinances of the Parliament only 
partly, and with a low voice ; ' several to 
his ' defending the conduct of the King, 
and urging his cause 5' and two, that he 
' suffered divers malignants to preach for 
him 5 ' to which was added, that ' he 
usually kept company with profane men.' 
Cole MSS. xxviii. 34, 35, 36. But he 
was not difturbed in his living. See infra. 
The return in 1650 is, 'an able, godly 
preacher.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

f f Memorials. 



The Classes. 



289 



Hinckford Hundred. 

Regwell. * 

LlSTON. f 

Tilbury. J 

BORELEY. || 

Ashen t als Esse. \ 
Sturanny. IT 

TOPFIELD. ** 



Stebbing. ft 



Ministers. Elders. 

Tho. Chaplin. 
Peter Allifton. 
Tho. Clopton. 
M. William Clarke, Tho. Purcas. 



M. Jo. Overed, 



M. Ainsworth, 



Chriftopher Earle, Esq. 
M. Samuel Smith. 
Robert Warmtford. 
John Sorrell. 
John Andrewes. 
Arthur Bramfton, Esq. 



* Memorials. Chaplin was of Paynes. 
Mor. ii. 342. 

j- James Lumley, presented by Thomas 
Clopton in 1635. He was still here in 
1650, 'an able and godly preaching 
minifter.' Lands, MSS, 459. He was 
succeeded in 1660 by Daniel Nicols, who 
conformed. N. ii. 392. Clopton was of 
Lifton Hall. Mor. ii. 321. 

X Juxt Clare. Newc. has John Clarke, 
10th March, 1645. In 1648, John 
Parnell signs himself a minister of Tilbury. 
N. p. 653. In 1650 the return is, 'John 
Clarke, an able, godly preaching minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Ralph Garnons suc- 
ceeded, 30th May, 1654. He conformed. 
N. ii. 595. 

|| P. 220. The entry in 1650 is, 
' John Deeks serves the cure.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. William Playne was ad- 
mitted rector in 1660. He conformed. 

§ William Jones, 161 6. The entry 
in 1650 is, 'Mr. Jas. Skinner serves the 
cure, by consent of Mr. Jones. 1 Lands. 
MSS. 459. Depositions were taken 
against Jones, 10th April, 1644, when 
five witnesses gave evidence to his ' having 



lately had three cures to serve at once : 
Ashen, Barfield, and Brantham, in 
Suffolk j' three, to his being 'non-resident 
at Afhen for six or seven years last paft, 
not having preached there above three or 
four Lord's dales in a year, and hath 
imployed malignant curates in his place 
till lately j ' two, to his ' having urged the 
Book of Sports ; ' two, that ' being desired 
by the churchwarden to publifh and ad- 
minifter the Vow and Covenant, he said 
he durft not for fear of praemunire, and 
so it was not taken in the parish ;' and 
three, that he made ' a notorious con- 
victed drunkard his tenant in the par- 
sonage house, to vex the Parliament.' 
Cole MSS. xxviii. 26, 27. The MSS. 
additions to the Classis has the name of 
Mr. Simmonds. John Mayes succeeded 
in Nov., i66i,and conformed. N. ii. 19. 

f[ Sturmere ? Nicholas Gent, pre- 
sented by Charles I., 1645. In 1650 he 
is returned as 'a preaching minister.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Gent appears to have 
conformed. N. ii. 566. 

** Memorials. Earle, infra. 

-f-j- Memorials. 



290 



Appendix to Chap. VII No. 2. 



Hinckford Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Hunningham M. Brewer, M. Bradfhaw. 

Castle."* John Parmiter, sen. 

Geo. Taylor. 
Hunningham Sible. f 
Yeldham Magna.J M. Rich. Mosely, Sidrach Smith. 

Sam. Plum, gent. 

John Simons, gent. 
Yeldham Parva. || 

Finchingfield.§ M. Stephen Marfhall, Sir Rob. Kemp, Knt. 
M. Letmale, Jno. Meade, Esq. 

Capt. John Pue. 

Richard Harrington.^! 

The Eleventh Classis, called the East Classis of Hinckford. 

Hinckford Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Bocking. Dr. Gawden,** Roger Wentworth,Esq. 

M. Handes. 

J. Reeve. 

William Skinner. 
Braintree. ff M. Samuel Collins, Adrian Mott. 



* Memorials. 

f John Jegon, see p. 234. He con- 
ormed. 

% Presented by Sam. Plomb, 1629, 
'an orthodox and able minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Mosely conformed. John 
Symonds, of the Pool. Morant ii. 303, 
see also the same page for the family of 
Plumb. 

|j Memorials. 

§ Memorials. Sir Robert was of 
Spaine's Hall, Knt., 1641. Mor. ii. 364. 
Meade, of Nortofts, p. 209, 210. 

f[ Harrington, see Mor. ii. 369. 

** Gauden, p. 195. Wentworth was 
of Bocking Hall. Morant ii. 283. 
Reeve was of High Garrett. Morant ii. 
386. Skinner, possibly the son of Mr. 
Skinner who bequeathed ' two crofts, 



called Waitlands, for the use of the poor 
for ever.' Morant ii. 388 

f f Collins, p. 150. Mott was a bene- 
factor to the poor of this parifh, for 
'upon the 4th March, 1638, he brought 
into the veftry £100, which he paid to 
the minifter and to the rest of the veftry, 
desiring that it might be laid out in land 
so soon as conveniently it might, and in 
the meantime to be improved to the best 
advantage, the profit thereof to be dis- 
posed of on the 5 th of November yearly, 
as his father did direct in his charity. 
But this charity never had the desired 
effect, for the donor lived to see a great 
part of the money lost by those to whom 
it was lent.' Morant ii. 398. The 
minifter was Samuel Collins, and the 
father of Adrian Mott was Mark Mott, 



The Classes, 



291 



Hinckford Hundred. 

Braintree [continued) 



Felsted. * 



Wethersfield. f 



Ministers. Elders. 

Robert Aylet. 
Richard Scot. 
Giles Moseley, senior. 
Edw. Cordall, gent. 
William Porter. 
M. Daniel Rogers, M. Binceks. 



Daniel Ward, 



% 



M. Hills, 



si 



Shalford, 
Stisted. II 
Raine. § 
Panfield. 
Alphamston. ** 

BULMER. ft 

Ballingdon and Brandon. 
Gestingthorpe. XX 
Heyney. II II 

formerly of Wethersfield, who be- 
queathed a house and field for the use of 
the poor. Morant, ib. John, probably 
a son of this Robert Aylett, in 1707, 
bequeathed the remaining moiety of a 
house and land in Bocking for the use of 
the poor of Braintree. Morant ii. 398. 
The Scots were an old and numerous 
Essex family. Morant ii. index. See 
Memorials. 

* Memorials. 

-j- Rogers, p. 14.7. 

% Hills, Memorials. A Martin Carter 
in the next generation at Saling, a nephew 
of John Symonds, of the Pool Yeldham. 
This Carter had the manor of Nicholls, 
in this parifh. Mor. ii. 375. 

|| Memorials. The Algars were a 
numerous and wealthy county family at 
this date. See Mor. ii. Index. 

§ Memorials. 

f[ Memorials. 



Jo. Allen. 
Jo. Bird. 
Jo. Walford. 
Marin (sic.) Carter. 
Henry Algar. 



John Eden, Esq. 
John Ingham. 



** Memorials. 

-j-j- The minifter was John Chamber- 
layne, who had been inftituted on the 
death of Thomas Donnell, by an order of 
the House of Lords, under date 16th 
Dec, 1646. Journals viii. 615, see p. 
654. He was still there in 1650, 'an 
able preaching minister.' Lands. MSS. 
459. He was succeeded by Thomas 
Bernard, who conformed. N. ii. 106. 
Eden was of Kitchins. Morant ii. 313. 

XX In 1650 the return is, i Mr. Will. 
Beaman is presented to the rectory.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. See Memorials. 

j| || P. 236. At Henny Magna the 
minifter was Samuel Sutton, who was 
instituted by an order of the House of 
Commons, under date 28th Oft., 1643. 
Jour. iii. 292. The return in 1650 is, 
' Stephen Payne preacheth well, but is 
scandalous.' Lands. MSS. 459. The 
MS. additions to the Classis have the name 
Y 2 



292 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Hinckford Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Lammarsh. * 

Milton, f 

Maplested Mag. % 

Maplested Parva. II Dean Tindale, Esq, 

Pebmarsh. § M. T. Burroughs, Tho. Cock, Esq. 

Wickham St. Paul's.^" M. Deersley, Richard White. 

TWINSTED. ** 
GOSFIELD. ff 

Halsted. %% 

The Twelfth Classis^ called Lexden Classis. 
Lexden Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Stanway. II II John Alefounder. 



of Manning. See also p. 267 ? If 
this relates to Henny Magna, he was 
probably a successor of Payne. The 
minifter at the reftoration seems to have 
conformed. N. ii. 326. For Henny 
Parva, see Memorials. 

* The minifter was Samuel Siday. 
N. ii. 361. In 1650 the return is, ' Sam. 
Sidday, he performs the cure himself, 
assisted by Mr. Martin, a truly orthodox 
divine.' Land. MSS. 459. Siday con- 
formed. 

f Middleton, p. 243. The minister 
who succeeded Frost, p. 243, was Francis 
Gisborough, appointed by the Committee 
for Plundered Ministers. Add. MSS. 
15669, 31 1. Gisborough soon removed. 
On Sept. 22, 1647, the Committee 
referred George Osborne to the Assembly 
of Divines for this church. Add. MSS. 
15671, 223. The return in 1650 is, 
' Mr. John Preston.'' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Hurdis Smith, 7th May, 1661, was 
admitted * per mort Frost.' It is not 
improbable that there was an ejection 
here. 

J P. 240. The return in 1650 is, 
' Edward Shepperd, by purchase, to him 
and his heirs. William Hicks officiates, 



an able and godly minister.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. 

|| P. 241. The return in 1650 is, 
4 Chriftopher Welsh preacheth twice every 
Lord's day.' Lands. MSS. 459 ; Tyndale, 

P- 5- 

§ Burroughs, Memorials. Cook was 
afterwards Colonel of the Militia, and, in 
1654, one of the knights for the County. 
Mor. ii. 263. 

f P. 657. Memorials. White, of the 
family of the benefactresses of the poor 
in this parifh. Morant ii. 276. 

** Memorials. 

ff P. 231. The minister was pro- 
bably a Mr. Norton, who was referred to 
the Assembly of Divines by the Com- 
mittee, for Gosfield, Aug. 18, 1645. 
Add. MSS. 15669, 270. The return in 
1650 is, 'William Smithies, an able 
preaching and godly minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459 5 Belchamp Walter, 288 ; and 
Raine, Memorials. Thomas Wardener 
succeeded, though at what date I cannot 
ascertain. The Rev. S. W. Dowell in- 
forms me that Wardener died vicar, and 
was buried April 5, 1669. See Memorials. 

\% Memorials. 
|| Memorials. 



The Classes. 



293 



Lexden Hundred. Ministers. 

Stanway [continued) 
Dedham. * M. Matthew Newcomen, 
M. George Smith, 



Fordham. f 

HUCKSLEY (SIC^ 
BOXSTED. II 



M. Nath. Bugg. 
M. J. Hubbard, 



Langham. § M. Farrar. 

Birch. 1T M. Jo. Ludgate (sic), 

Wormingford.** M. Turner, 

DONILAND. ft 

BOREHAM EASTHORPE. %% 



Elders. 

Hen. Fenn. 
Robert Salmon. 
Rob. Webb. 
Clement Fenn. 
Bezaliel Auger (sic). 
David Polly. 

M. Jo. Maidftone, sen. 
Jo. Barker. 
Jo. Adkinson. 
Jo. Messing. 
Nicholas Wall, gent. 
Hezekial Haynes, gent. 
Gs. Barnardiftone, Esq. 
M. Tonftall. 
M. Jo. Smith. 
Edw. Philipps. 



* Newcomen, ante, and Memorials j 
Smith, see Memorials} Anger, Me- 
morials. 

f Memorials. 

£ P. 237. Horkfley Mag. Bugg 
was still here in 1650. Lands. MSS. 459. 
See Birch. 

|| Hubbard, see Memorials. Maid- 
stone was of Pond House. Mor. 241. 

§ John Farrar, p. no, 10th- Sept., 
1607, ' per resig. Tho.' p. 123. His suc- 
cessor was Thomas Seaborne, who was 
here in 1650. Lands. MSS. 459. Sea- 
borne appears to have conformed. 

f[ Birch Magna, p. 219. The Rev. 
W. Harrison kindly informs me that 
'Ludgate' became rector in 1643, but that 
there are no traces of his avoidance in the 
parisfh regifter. He was still there in 
1650. Lands. MSS. 459. Walker ii. 
199, says that John Davies was rector in 
1654. Collingwood recovered his living 
at the restoration, and died in 1666. The 



Rev. W. Harrison also informs me that 
Nath. Bugg (note J) was curate here in 
1664. Newc. Haynes was of the Hill ? 
Mor. ii. 183. 

** 26th Dec, 1646, there is an order 
for the institution of John White. Jour. 
H. of Lords, viii. 630. White was there 
in 1650. Lands. MSS. 459. Was 
Turner White's curate ? White died 
before Jan., 1662. His successor con- 
formed. N. ii. 686. 

ff See Memorials. Tunftall was 
possibly Henry, the son of Sir John Tun- 
ftall, and the patron who presented 
Richard Tompson to the rectory in 1638. 
Mor. ii. 186.5 N. ii. 215. Smith was 
possessed of lands here. Mor. ii. 215. 

XX P- 230. John White was referred 
to the Assembly of Divines for the va- 
cancy, Aug. 25, 1646, by the Committee 
for Plundered Minifters. Add. MSS. 
15670, 381. The MS. additions to the 
Classis give M. Rand. The return for 



294 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Lexden Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Boreham Easthorpe {continued) Tho. Michelneld. 

WlVENHOE.* 

In worth, t M. Wharton, 

Coggeshall. J Robert Crane, gent. 

William Tanner. 
Copford. || M. Robert Tomson, 

Earles Colne. § M. Ralph Joscelin, R. Harlackenden, Esq. 

Edw. Clarke, Esq. 
Chappell. M. Timothy Rogers, 11 William Laurence. 



1650 is, 'Mr. Oaky.' The admission of 
Joh. Beat, 16th April, 1669, is entered 
as ' per mort Johnson.' ii. 239. 

* The return in 1650 is, ' noe minis- 
ter.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

f Ralph Wharton, p. 155. See Me- 
morials. 

J See Memorials ; Crane p. 149. 

|| See Memorials. 

§ Infra. Admitted nth March, 
1640, on the presentation of Richard 
Harlackenden. The return in 1650 is 
simply, ' Mr. Ralph Josselin,' (sic.) 
Lands. MSS. 459. Some particulars 
relating to R. J., extracted from his 
diary by W. Cole, 1676: 'Ralph 
Joscelin, born at Chalke End, his father's 
patrimony, Jan. 26, 161 6, two years 
after which, his father and mother re- 
moved to Bishop's Stortford. In 1622 
he was a pensioner in Jesus, Cambridge, 
his father at that time living at Bump- 
stead. In 1636 he took his degree of 
B.A., and became usher to Mr. Neale, of 
Dean, in Beds. In 1639 he preached his 
firfb sermon at Wormington, in North- 
amptonshire. The same year he left Mr. 
Neale, and became curate to Mr. Giffard, 
of Olney, in Bucks. In the Dec. of that 
year also, he was ordained prieft by the 
Bishop of Peterborough. There weie 
several ordained with him ; they bowed to 
the altar, he would not. In 1640 he 
went to Cranham and kept school at 



Upminfter, where he married Jane Con- 
ftable, by whom he had about ten children. 
In the same year he removed to Earls 
Colne. He was chaplin to Col. William 
Harlackenden's regiment. In 1646, 
when Harlackenden was sheriff, he 
preached the assize sermon at Chelmsford. 
He has also publifhed a sermon preached 
before the Lord Mayor of London. I 
suppose he lies buried in the church.' 
Cole MSS. x. 35. Cole also says, from 
his diary, ' he complied with the Bar- 
tholomew Act, though very uneasy in 
conscience. He often mentions his seek- 
ing the Lord at Lady Honeywood's, at 
Markefhall, where he was much respected, 
as he was also at the Priory House, in his 
own parish.' He published a sermon 
preached at the funeral of Mrs. Smythes 
Harlackenden, wife to William Har- 
lackenden, Esq., June 28, 1651. Sm. 
8vo. 1652. A descendant of one Bufton, 
of Coggeshall, has in his possession, 
among other interefting MSS. of a 
similar character, some notes of a funeral 
sermon for Mr. Porter, preached by 
Joscelin, Nov. 17, 1669, at Coggefhall. 
I have seen the MSS. in the custody of 
my friend, Mr. Dale. Rich. Harlacken- 
den, 339. 

ff Infra. He is still there in 1650. 
Lands. MSS. 459. Timothy Rogers is 
supposed to have been a great grandson 
of the Protomartyr, p. 27. He was the 



The Classes. 



295 



Lexden Hundred. 

Chappell [continued) 
Aldham. * M. 

Feering. M. 

Marshall (sic). J 

Patyfrick. II 
Tay Mag. § 
Messing. ^T 

White Colne. ** 
Bergholt. ft 
Colne Wake. %% 
colne-engaine. ii || 



Ministers. Elders. 

Paul Rayner. 
Gamaliel Carr, John Sayer, Esq. 
Jo. Okeley, f Tho. Browning. 

Sir T. Honeywood, Kt. 

John Smith. 

M. Ric. Wiseman. 

William Stebbing. 

John Haseler. 

Edward Johnson. 



son of the Rev. Vincent Rogers, of 
Stratford Bow, and brother of Nehemiah, 
p. 156. We first hear of him as minister 
at Steeple, where I have not yet been 
able to trace him. He there publifhed 
4 The Roman Catharist,' London, 1621, 
having previously published, as it should 
appear, ' The Righteous Man's Evidence 
for Heaven,' the twelfth edition of which 
came forth in 1637. According to Mor. 
ii. 208, he came to Chapel in 1623. It 
is said that he was vicar of Sudbury in 
1636, but if he was, he must have 
returned to Chapel after a ( few years at 
the longest.' Rogers also publifhed 
' Good News from Heaven ; ' ' A Faith- 
ful Friend, true to the Soul}' and 'The 
Chriftian's Jewel of Faith.' I have not 
been able to ascertain the date of his death. 
Chefter's Life of Jno. Rogers, Lond., 1861, 
pp. 275-6. Samuel Rogers, the son of 
Timothy, was admitted vicar of Tay 
Magna, 27th Jan., 1637, on the presenta- 
tion of his uncle Nehemiah. N. ii. 573. 
This was probably during his father's 
residence at Sudbury. Laurence, Mor. 
ii. 204. 

* P. 217. Carr was the successor of 
Falconer, p. 217. In 1650 the return is, 



' Mr. John Wilson,' who seems to have 
conformed. N. ii. 6. Sayer was of 
Bourchier's Hall. ' During the Com- 
monwealth he was a very busy com- 
mittee-man.' Mor. ii. 200. 

-f- Memorials. 

X Markeshall. Memorials. 

|| Pattesvvick. Memorials. 

§ Memorials. Stebbing was of Bacons. 
Mor. ii. 206. 

^[ John Prefton, 3rd May, 1642, 
* per cess. Rogers.' N. ii. 417. He was 
still here in 1650. Lands. MSS. 459. 
Preston's successor, Sida Smith, con- 
formed. N. ib. Walker says Smith was 
sequeftered, ii. 353. 

** Memorials. 

ff Memorials. 

XX Edward Layfield, admitted 9th 
June, 1640, on the presentation of 
Robert Jacob. He is still therein 1650, 
when he is returned as, ' disaffected.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Layfield comformed. 
N. ii. 191. 

|| || Tho. Brackley, p. 656, 19th 
March, 1628. N. ii. 188. In 1650 he 
is still there. Lands. MSS. 459. The 
Rev. Dr. Greenwood kindly informs me 
that he died Feb. 15, 1652. Memorials. 



296 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2, 



Lexden Hundred. 

Mount Bures. * 
Marke Tay. f 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



Tlie Thirteenth Classis, called Tendering Classis. 



Tendering Hundred. 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



Wrabness. % M.William Pibble, Tho. Edgar. 

Layford. II M. Jno. Edes, Geo. Francis. 

Ardley. M. Nath. Carr,§ John Lorking. 

Bezaleel Gale. 
Mistley and Man- M. Tho. Games, Robert Taylor. 
ningtree.^I Robert Lofkin. 

Bromley Mag. m M. Tho. Slaughter, Sir Tho. Bowes, Kt. 
Bentley PERVA.tt M. Anth. Whiting, 
Holland Mag.JJ M. Edw. Darnell, John Alderton. 



* John Simpson, admitted 18th Dec, 
1 616. N. ii. He was still there in 1650. 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

f Henry Golding, 16th Nov., 1633. 
N. ii. 575. In 1650, < Mr. John Neville.' 
Lands. MSS 459 ; Memorials. 

+ 23rd Dec, 1608. N. ii. 687. The 
return in 1650 is, 'no minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. The next incumbent ap- 
pears to have been Isaac Read, who 
conformed. 

|| Lawford. Edes, p. 156. Memorials. 

§ P. 219. Carr was previously redlor 
of Langenhoe. Add. MSS. 15669. The 
next vicar that appears, is John Doughty. 
The successor of John Doughty was 
Stephen Brewer, who was admitted 5th 
Dec, 1662. Gael, of Bonds. Mor. ii. 

43 2 - 

^[ 1st Dec, 1647. An order for the 

inftitution of John Witham, ' void by the 

resignation of the laft incumbent.' Jour. 

H. of Lords, ix. 550. Games must now 

have left. In 1650, Witham is still here. 

Lands. MSS. 459. He conformed. N. 

ii. 422. 



** Tho. Salter, admitted 5th Aug., 
1629, on the presentation of Thomas 
Bowes. N. ii. 98. Salter was still there 
in 1650. His successor was Robert 
Pear tree (infra), who died before 1661. 
Peartree was succeeded by Richard Bowes, 
who conformed. Sir Tho. Bowes, p. 169. 

ff The date of his admission does not 
appear, neither does that of his voidance. 
The Rev. H. R. S. Smith obliges me 
with an entry in Whiting's handwriting 
in the parish regifter. It occurs after the 
record of the burials of his predecessors, 
John Willis, and two others : ' En sequimar 
omnesj | . . . Omnium versatur urna | 
serius et ocius.' Job. xxx. 23. A AW. 
His successor was Henry Stenmar. N. 
ii. 52, p. 470. In the Lands. MSS. 459, 
Stenmar is returned as 'Mr. Henry 
Stymeare.' He conformed. 

XX P. 237. 21st Oct., 1643. An order 
for the sequeftration of the living to 
Anthony Lapthorne. Jour. H. of Com. 
viii. 285. Darnell was still here in 1650. 
Lands. MSS. 459. 



The Classes. 



297 



Lexden Hundred. 

Thorrington. * 
Okely Mag. f 
Okely Parva. % 
Bradfield. II 

Ramsey. § 
Harwich. 1F 

DOVERCOURT. 11 



Ministers. Elders. 

M. Jo. Reade, Jeremy Gale. 
M. Robert Cole, Ciprian Bridge. 
M. Jo. Maiden, John Cuckoe. 
M. Hen. Seamer, Sir Harbottle Grim- 
stone, Bart. 

Sam. Carrington. 

Rich. Hawking, gent. 

Tho. Crispe. 



* P. 251. Appointed by committee, 
Feb. 15, 1644. Add. MSS. 15669, see 
also under date April 19, 1645. In 
1650 the return is, 'Mr. Robert Pear- 
tree.' (P. 296.) Lands. MSS. 459. 
Thos. Tirwhitt was admitted 23rd Nov., 
1661, 'per mort. ult reft.' Tirwhitt 
conformed. 

-f- Memorials. Bridge, next note. 

J It appears from the parifh regifter 
that he was there in 1634. Admitted 
1 6th March, 1641, on the presentation 
of Eliza, Countess Rivers. N. ii. 446. 
He was still there in 1650. Lands. 
MSS. 459. There is an entry of the 
death of Alice, his wife, in the parifh 
regifters, under date March 4, 1639. 
Maiden was married again in 1644, to 
Sarah, widow of Thomas Bridge, alder- 
man of Harwich. This Thomas, and 
Cyprian Bridge, were probably related. 
Traces of Maiden occur in the regifter as 
late as 1656. He was succeeded by Adam 
Reeve. N. ii. 446. There are no traces 
of Adam Reeve in the regifter, but there 
is an entry on March 16, 1659, of the 
baptism of Elizabeth, the daughter of 
Richard Reeve. How Reeve voided, or 
when, does not appear. He was suc- 
ceeded by Daniel Bell, or, as the name is 
written in the regifters, Pell. Bell con- 
formed, and was buried at Little Oakeley, 
March 5, 1677-8. For this and much 
of the previous part of the present note, 



I am indebted to the kindness of the 
Rev. Geo. Burmefter. 

|| Henry Stemmar, admitted 1 8th Dec, 
1633, on the presentation of Anna, 
Countess Dorset. Hewasstillherein 1648. 
P. 468 ; see p. 296. Lands. MSS. 459. 
Newcourt's entry of John Wytham, 2nd 
Dec, 1647, inftitut. per Dn. Aylett, 
must be a mistake. In 1650 the return 
is John Higgins. Wytham succeeded 
John Higgins, and conformed. 

§ Richard Tayler, admitted 24th 
Dec, 1638, on the presentation of 
Charles I. He was still there in 1650. 
Lands. MSS. 459. Tayler's successor 
was Abraham Everit, who conformed. 
Carrington, probably of South House. 
Mor. i. 496. 

f P. 229. On the 19th Oct., 1643, 
' a letter ' was read ' from the Mayor of 
Harwich, complaining against Wood, 
their ledhirer. The men that brought 
up the letter were called in and delivered 
petitions subscribed with many hands, 
and it was ordered that the examination 
of all the matters contained in these 
petitions be referred to the Committee for 
Plundered Minifters, who are forthwith 
to send for the said Mr. Wood, and for 
the witnesses, and to examine thoroughly 
the businesses objected against him, and 
to report it to the House. Ordered, 
that the clerk shall note of all such 
members as recommend any man to a 



298 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Lexden Hundred. 
WlCKES. "* 

Bentley Mag. f 
Bromeley Parva. % 
Weeley. II 
Clacton Mag. § 
Clacton Parva. 11 
Thorpe. ** 
Arlford. ft 
Beamont. %% 

BlCKLESEY (sic.) |||| 

Elmsted. §§ 



living by way of sequeftration or other- 
wise.' Jour. H. of C. iii. 281. From 
Add. MSS. 15669, 218, it appears that 
John Warren, 'a plundered minifter,' 
was subsequently appointed to the place 
of Wood. Memorials, June 16, 1646. 
Alexander Clark was ' recommended to 
the church and parifh of Dovercourt cum 
Harwich, to have them upon trial.' Add. 
MSS. 15670, 259. Clark, therefore, 
was probably the minifter at this date. In 
1650 the return is, 'Mr. Tho. Tookey 
is vicar.' Lands. MSS. 459. Tookey 
was possibly one of the several minifters 
in the family of Job Tookie, the ejected 
of Great Yarmouth. Palmer iii. 20. 

* Probably Anthony Fenton, who 
seems to have conformed. N. ii. 657. 
Veasie was of Wickes Hall ? M. i. 
468. 

-f Memorials. Burnaby was one of a 
great number who signed the proteftation 
in 1 641. He also appears as church- 
warden in 1647. Parish regifters and 
other documents which I was courteously 
allowed to consult by the Rev. J. Crofts. 

J Memorials. Cardinal, of Braham 
Hall, p. 56, 124. Mor. i. 440. 

|| James Parkinson, 4th April, 1607. 
N. ii. 667 ; Memorials. 

§ Joseph Long, 24th Nov., 1609. 



Ministers. Elders. 

Tho. Veasie, gent. 
M. Burnaby. 
James Cardinal. 
Amos Fisher. 
M. Rous. 
Philip Daniell. 
Geo. Nicholl. 



He was still here in 1650. Walker says 
he was sequeftered here, ii. 292. See 
Memorials. Long conformed. N. ii. 
154. 

f[ Henry Wayte, admitted 13th Aug., 
1642. N. ii. 155. Waite (sic.) was 
still here in 1650. Lands. MSS. 459. 
His successor was one Carter, who dying 
before March, 1660, was succeeded by 
Francis Flewellin, who conformed. 

** P. 250: Thomas Colson, appointed 
by the Committee, Sept. 13, 1645. 
Add. MSS, 15671, 36. In 1650 the 
return is, ' Mn Tho. Harrild is vicar.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Robert Ridgeway 
became vicar afteawards, who conformed. 
N. ii. 586. 

ff Ailesford, Allesford, Alresford. 
John Lock, admitted 15th Jan., 1645. 
N. ii. 5. Lock's successor, Tho. Martin, 
(25th March, 1661). He conformed. 
N. ib. 

XX Possibly Bull, p. 270 ? Isaac Terling 
was admitted redlor 20th Aug., 1662. 
N. ii. 41. 

|| Brightlingsea. See Memorials. 

§§ Roger Warfield, admitted 3rd Feb., 
1642. N. ii. 245. He was still there 
in 1650. Lands. MSS. 459. The next 
entry in Newcourt is Tho. Martin, 29th 
Nov., 1662. Walker alleges a seques- 



The Classes. 

Ministers. 



2 99 



Lexden Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Frating. * 
Frinton. t 
Holland Parva. % 

KlRBY. || 

Messey (sic.) § 
St. Osyth. fl 
Tendring. ** 

Walton, ft 

The Fourteenth Glassis^ called Thurftable, Witham, and 
Colchejler Class is. 

Thurstable Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Wickham. XX M. Enoch Gray, Josiah Wilking, gent. 

Robert Plum, gent. 



tration here of 'a very worthy man,' 
adding that ' he has not been able to 
recover his name.' The above shows 
this to be another of his mistakes, ii. 236. 

* Possibly Ant. Cage, admitted 6th 
Feb., 1627. The return in 1650 is, 
' Mr. Geo. Rush, elected by the whole 
parish.' Lands. MSS. 459. Augustus 
Underwood became rector in Dec, 1658. 
He conformed. N. ii. 276. 

f Henry Grimfton, admitted 7th 
Dec, 1639, on the presentation of Sir 
Harbottle Grimfton. N. ii. 279.- The 
return in 1650 is, 'Mr. James Reynolds.' 
Theophilus Peirse, who afterwards suc- 
ceeded Edward Caftle at Woodham 
Water, p. 271, became rector in 1659. 
He conformed, and died possessed of both 
livings, before May, 1691. N. ii.279,685. 

J The return in 1650 is, 'there is 
neither parsonage nor vicarage. Mr. 
Jenkinson, formerly sequeftered from 
Panfield.' Lands. MSS. 459. Memorials. 

|| Memorials, infra. John Heme, 
admitted 23rd March, 1645. The re- 
turn in 1650 is, 'Mr. John Heme.' 



Lands. MSS. 459. Heme conformed. 
N. ii. 353. 

§ Mose. Matthew Durden, ad- 
mitted 8th Jan., 1644. Durden was 
succeeded by Tho. Cranston, who seems 
to have conformed. N. ii. 425. 

f[ Nehemiah Rogers? p. 156? He 
was still here in 1650. Lands. MSS. 459. 

** Israel Hewit. He was still here in 
1650. Lands. MSS. 459. He con- 
formed. N. ii. 577. 

ff Isaac Starling, admitted 3rd March, 
1 641, on the presentation of Eliz., 
Countess Rivers. The return in 1650 
is, 'Mr. Stephen Pipple is vicar.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. Newcourt has no mention 
of Pipple, but mentions John Radman 
and John Heme, after Starling. Heme 
conformed. See note || 

XI Bishops. Admitted 19th Sept., 
1644. N. ii. 659. He was here Jan. 
II9 1643. See 'The Summe of a Con- 
ference held at Terling.' Lond., 1644. 
He was still there in 1650. Lands. MSS. 
459. Tho. Browning, 25th Jan., 1660, 
conformed. N. ib. Memorials. 



300 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Thurstable Hundred. Ministers. 

GOLDHANGER. * 

Heightridge. f 
Langford. % 
tollesbury. || 
Totham Mag. § 

TOTHAM PARVA. fl" 

Toulshunt Knights. ** 
Major, ft 
„ Darcy. XX 

* P. 231. Sept. 8, 1645. There is 
an entry in the Committee Book under 
this date : ' John Whiting (infra), who 
has had this living sequeftered to him 
before, now has the chapelry of Little 
Totham sequeftered to him also.' Add. 
MSS. 15669, 316. See Lexden, infra. 
In June, 1647, the cure appears to have 
been vacant, as the sequestrators are 
ordered to see to it. Add. MSS. 15671, 
49. In 1650 the return is, ' Mr. Edward 
How, by order from Committee of 
Plundered Minifters.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

f Possibly Robert Paley, p. 156, 160. 
The return in 1650 is, 'Mr. Richard 
Reddrich.' Lands. MSS. 459. Jo. 
Lasly succeeded on his death in Feb., 
1661. N. ii. 329. Lasly conformed. 

J John Reddrich, admitted 6th Sept., 
1637. Reddrich resigned before 29th 
Nov., 1662. No circumftances are men- 
tioned. N. ii. 363. 

|| P. 251. In Nov., 1645, Thomas 
Gouge was the incumbent, as he is 
ordered to show cause why he neglects 
the cure, at that date. Notice is also 
taken that the parifhioners petition for 
Mr. Gilbert, who is ordered to supply the 
cure accordingly, until Gouge complies 
with the order. Add. MSS. 15669, 501. 
10th Jan., 1645-6, Gouge having left, 
Thomas Gilbert, a godly and orthodox 
divine, is appointed to the vacancy. Add. 
MSS. 15669, 550. In 1650 the return 



Elders. 



is, 'Mr. Thomas Gilbert, scandalous.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. Gilbert seems to 
have been succeeded by John Perry, who 
conformed. N. ii. 602. 

§ P. 252. 19th Nov., 1646. 'Ordered 
that Dr. Aylett shall inftitute and indudr. 
Edward Reddrich, clerk, M.A., to the 
vicarage of Totham Magna, Essex, void 
by the death of Ambrose Westropp, clerk, 
the late incumbent ; the said Mr. Reddrich 
producing his presentation thereunto, under 
the hand and seal of William Aylett, his 
patron.' Jour. H. of Lords, viii. 571. 
In 1650 the return is, 'no minifter.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

ff See Goldhanger, p. 231. The re- 
turn in 1650 is, 'no minifter.' Lands. 
MSS. 459. 

** Nic. Gill. The return in 1650 is, 
'Nathaniel Gyll.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Thomas Fuller appears in N. ii. 607, 
without any date. He seems to have 
died before 26th May, 1662, when he 
was succeeded by Sam. Croxall, who con- 
formed. See next note. 

ff 1 st May, 1647. ' Order for the in- 
ftitution of Ralph Battell to the vicarage.' 
Jour. H. of Lords, ix. 173. See next 
note. The return in 1650 was, 'Mr. 
Nicholas Gyll, scandalous.' Lands. MSS. 

45 9 > P- 

XX P- 251. May 3, 1645. Thomas 
Payne was appointed to the cure by the 
Committee for Plundered Minifters. 



The Classes, 



301 



Winistrey Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Layer Marney. * M. Joseph Downing, 

Wigborough Mag. t 

Pelden. % 

Aberton. II 

Layer de la Hay. § 

West Mersea. fl" Strange Chapman, gent. 

East Mersea. ** Robert Poune, gent. 

FlNGRINGHOE. ff 

Langenhoe. XX 
Laer Breton. |||| 

Witham Hundred. Ministers. Elders. 

Witham. §§ M. Richard Rowles, William Alien. 

Robert Gerard. 
Jeremy Skingle. 



Add. MSS. 15669. The return in 1650 
is, ' Mr. Battell.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
See previous note. Newcourt has ' Broom- 
hall ' next after him, Tho. (sic.) Hale, 
and then Joh. Ramsey, 22nd Feb., 1660, 
* per cess. Broomhall.' If Hale was still 
living, Broomhall was ejected. The next 
entry is ' Nic. Ashwell, 21st June, 1662, 
per cess. Ramsey.' This also is sugges- 
tive. Ashwell conformed. N. ii. 605, 
606. 

* Newcourt has ' John Downing, 
25th Feb., 1628.' His next entry is 
' Sampson,' and from his next, it appears 
that Sampson conformed. 

f John Tindall, admitted 1 6th Feb., 
1645. The next entry in Newcourt is 
'Rob. Bland.' Bland conformed. At 
Wigborough Parva the rector was Robert 
Stirrell, admitted 22nd March, 1641. 
The next entry in Newcourt is 'John 
Coe.' Coe conformed. 

J Memorials. Francis Ong. Infra. 
Add. MSS. 15669, March 11, 1664, 
Sept. 4, 1644, May 20, 1645, pp. 116, 
238 j 15670, 321, at all. 



|| P. 145. Robert Potter, 22nd Jan., 
1646. Potter conformed. 

§ John Awdley was curate in 1640. 
The return in 1653 is, 'Mr. Thomas 
Awdley is forced upon them by the 
Honourable Awdley.' Lands. MSS. 459. 
Thomas Parker became the curate 3rd 
July, 1662. Parker conformed. N. 

ii- 377- 

9\ See Memorials. 

## Israel Edwards, who was admitted 
2nd Aug., 1 61 5, having been admitted 
rector of Great Bentley on the 21st of 
April previously. Edwards conformed. 
N. ii. 50, 414. 

ft See Memorials. 

XX See Memorials. 
1 1| Edward Theedam, admitted 3rd 
Nov. 1632. The return in 1650 is, 
'Edward Thudman,' (sic.) Lands. MSS. 
459. Theedam seems to have conformed. 
N. ii. 276. Walker says he was seques- 
tered. He says the same thing of one 
Kympton here, ii. 377, 288. 

§§ Memorials. Infra. Gerard was of 
Powers Hall, Mor. ii. 108, and Freborne 
of Batisfords, Mor. ii. no. 



302 



Appendix to Chap. VII. iV 



o. 2. 



Witham Hundred. 
Witham [continued) 

RlVENHALL. * 

Black Notley. t 
Braxted Mag. t 
Braxted Parva. I 
Bradwell. § 

cogshall perv. 
Cressixg. 

Fairestead. ^1 
Felborxe. ** 
Hatfield Peverell. tt 
Keldox. 
esterford. ii 
Terlixg. ,; 
Ultixg. §§ 
White Notley. r ^I 



Ministers. Elders. 

Jo. Freborne. 

M. Jeremy Aylett, sen, 



Colchester. 

The Towxe. *** 



Ministers. 
M. Harmer. 



Elders 



* Memorials. Ayiet was of Dore- 
ward's Hall. Mor. ii. 148. 

-p Memorials. 

X Memorials. 

|j Possibly Robert White, admitted 
15th Oct., 1630. The return in 1650 
is, 'Mr. White was presented, but he 
hath left it about three years, and Mr. 
Roberts provides for the supply of the 
cure.' Lands. MSS. 459. Thomas 
Roberts also held the manor of Little 
Brackftead, and was patron of the living. 
Mor. ii. 144. 

§ Memorials. 

f[ Joshua Blower, admitted .7th Dec, 
1643. The return in 1650 is, 'John 
(sic) Blower, an able, godly preaching 
miniiter.' Lands. MSS. 459. Blower 
appears to have conformed. N. ii. 249. 

** Faulkbourne, Memorials. 

ff Probably vacant. N. ii. 318, 249. 
The return in 1650 is, * without a settled 



minifter this two years, and supplied at 
present by Mr. Clarke, of much bad 
odour, a disaffected minifter.'' Lands. 
MSS. 459. 

XX Memorials. 
Memorials. 

§§ Possibly William Hill, see p. 252. 

^ff Probably Anthony Bickerftaffe. 
N. ii. 442. The return in 1650 is, 
1 Mr. George Barre, an able, godly minis- 
ter.' Lands. MSS. 459. Barre was 
succeeded by John Stowe, who con- 
formed. N. ii. 442. 

*** Robert Harmer, infra. He was of 
St. John's, Cambridge. He was nomi- 
nated 9th Oct., 1639. Assembly Book. 
There is a tablet to the memory of 
Abigail, his wife, who died June 14, 
1642, in All Saint's Church. He was 
succeeded by Will. Archer. Assembly 
Book, Mor. Col. x. 100. 






The Classes. 



303 



Colchester. Ministers. Elders. 

Leonard's Parish.* M. Alexander Robert Talcot, gent. 

Piggott, 
Maries Parish, f Harbottle Grimstone, 

Esq. 
John Cox, gent. 
Lexden Parish. M. Js. Wyessdale,J Doctor Glisson. || 

William Barnes. 



* Piggott, infra Memorials. A 
Robert Talcoat was bailiff in 16 12, 
1616, 1623, 1631, and a Robert Talcoat 
was mayor in 1640, and died during his 
mayoralty. Mor. MSS. Col. M. This 
was his son ? 

f Probably William Boisard, of whom 
Morant, without giving his authority, 
says, ' put into the room of John 
Stephens, in 1644, by the Parliament's 
commissioners.' Col. 109. He was still 
here in 1650, Lands. MSS. 459, and in 
1657, at which date he also held Trinity. 
Mor. MSS., Col. Mus. 275, John 
Smith was vicar at the reftoration. He 
conformed. N. ii. 175. He was the 
author of (1) The Chriftian Religion's 
Appeal from the groundless prejudices of 
the Sceptic to the Bar of Common 



Reason 



four books, Lond., 1675, 



fol. (2) A Narrative about the Popifh 
Plot, 1679. (3) A Narrative that no 
faith is to be given to the Papifts ; relating 
to the Trial and Speech of William, 
Viscount Stafford. Lond., 1681. (4) 
The Dodlrine of the Church of England 
concerning the Lord's day, or Sunday 
Sabbath vindicated. Lond., 1690, 8vo. 
(5) On Universal Redemption. Part 1, 
Lond., 1701, 8vo. (6) Account of a 
Conference between him and Thomas 
Kirby, on Baptism. Lond., 167 1, 8vo. 
John Cox, alderman, who died Nov. 5, 
1649, and is buried in the chancel of St. 
Peter's. Mor. Col. App. 20. 

J P. 225. In the Committee Book 
there is an entry, under date Jan. 12, 



1645, 'Mr. Wyersdale, a plundered 
minister, one of those for whom the 
Committee is especially to provide, is 
therefore appointed to the sequeftration of 
Lexden.' Add. MSS. 15669, p. 160 ; 
see also ib. p. 196, 15670, p. 161, and 
1 5671, p. 179. Mor. Hist. Col. 133, 
gives Gabriel as his chriftian name, and 
alleges as his authority ' Committee's or 
Sequeftration's Book.' Gabriel was the 
name of the Wyersdale who was minifter 
in 1648. Infra. In 1650 the minister 
was John Whiting. See Goldhanger, 
p. 300. In the parifh regifter, No. 3, 
there is the following entry relating to 
Whiting, Nov. 14, 1650, 'the pa- 
rifhioners of Lexden having made choice 
of John Whiting for their parish regifter, 
I have this day given him his oath for 
the faithfull execution of that office. 
Tho. Pecke, maior (of Colchefter).' 
Morant, on the authority of the ' Rate,' 
gives George Downe as minifter in 1657, 
but, according to Newcourt, Whiting was 
succeeded by John Nettles, 18th Dec, 
1657, 'per commissarios.' Nettles con- 
formed. Memorials. 

|| Of Glisson, Wood gives the fol- 
lowing account : ' This learned gentleman, 
who was M.A of Gonvill and Cain's 
College, Cambridge, was second son of 
William Glisson, of Rompiiham, in Dor- 
setfhire, was afterwards doctor of physic, 
the King's public profeflbr of that faculty 
in the said University, candidate of the 
College of Physicians at London, an. 
1634, fellow the year after, anatomy 



3°4 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Colchester. Ministers. 

James Parish. * 



Nicholas Parish, f 
Butolph's Parish. % 
All Saints. || 

reader in the said Coll., 1639, practised 
physic at Colchefter during the time of 
the rebellion, where he was present when 
the generous royalifts of Kent were be- 
sieged, 1648, and after. In 1655 he 
was chosen one of the elects of the said 
Coll., and afterwards was president 
thereof for several years. This worthy 
doctor, to whose learned lucubrations and 
deep disquisitions in physic not only 
Great Britain but remote kingdoms owe 
a particular respect and veneration, died 
much lamented, in the parifh of St. 
Bride, alias St. Bridget, in London, in 
Oct. or November, 1677.' Wood, Fast, 
i. 238 ; Mor. Col. 67, no. 

* John White, admitted 6th Oct., 
1642. In the Committee Book, under 
date June 3, 1646, there is an entry of 
an order to the effect that, the parishioners 
of Grinfted having petitioned that John 
White might have the living, he being 
rector of the neighbouring parish of St. 
James, the living should be sequestered 
to him, and also that the parishes of St. 
James and Grinfted should be united. 
Add. MSS. 15670, 194. The return in 
1650 is, 'the house burnt down in the 
late siege. Noe minister.' Lands. MSS. 
459. White was shortly succeeded by 
Robert Tuller, infra, and he by Thos. 
Burton, who resigned before 13th Sept., 
1661. Newc. ii. 149. Godschall family. 
Mor. Colchester, 123. 

f Possibly Theophilus Roberts, ad- 
mitted 30th April, 1609. See p. 159. 
Burrowes was bailiff in 1627. Mor. 
MSS. Col. Museum. 



Elders. 

Jo. Jocelin, Esq. 
Jo. Godscale, Esq. 
Anchony Smith. 
Francis Burrowes. 
Jeremy DanielL 



I Memorials. Infra. Daniel was one 
of the benefactors of this parish, by his 
will dated Oct. 26, 1695. Mor. Col. 
165. He died 16th Nov., 1696, aet 61. 
There is a Purbeck graveftone to his 
memory in St. Peter's Church. 

|| I cannot ascertain the name of the 
rector at this date. In 1650, the minifter 
was Tho. Buxton. Lands. MSS. 459. 
Edward Hickeringly became the minis- 
ter 21st Oct., 1662. He was first a 
pensioner of St. John's Coll., Cambridge; 
then, in 1650, junior Bach-fell of Gonvil 
and Caius ; soon after a lieutenant in the 
English army in Scotland j then a captain 
in Gen. Fleetwood's regiment, when he 
was Swedifh ambassador in England for 
Carolus Gustavus. He lies buried in All 
Saints' Church, where there is a grave- 
stone to his memory. One sentence of 
the inscription was chisselled out, it is 
said, by Bishop Compton. The sentence 
is as follows, ' tarn Marti quam Mercurio 
clarus quippe qui terra mari q. Militavit 
non sine gloria, In genii q. vires scriptis 
multiplice argumento insignitis demon- 
stravit ; sacris tandem ordinibus initiatus, 
(the sentence then concludes) hujusce 
Parochiae 46 annos rector.' He died 
Nov. 30, 1708, aet 78. He was the 
author of (1) Jamaica Revived. Lond., 
1661, 8vo., 2nd ed. (2) The Naked 
Truth? Lond., 1680, fol. (3) The 
Naked Truth, p. ii. Lond., 1681, fol. 
(4) The Naked Truth, p. hi. Lond., 
1 68 1, fol. (5) The Naked Truth, p. iv. 
Lond., 1682, fol. (6) A Dialogue be- 
tween Timothy and Titus about the 



The Clas 



3°5 



Colchester. 

Giles. * 
Magdalen, f 
Trinity. J 
rumballs. || 
Martins. § 
Peter's. 11 
Mile End. ** 
Greenstreet. ft 
Beere-durd (sic). XX 



Ministers. 



Elders. 



The return of the Classes of Essex according to directions of 



Articles and some of the Canons of the 
Church of England. Lond., 1689. 

(7) The Black Nonconformist discovered 
in more Naked Truth. Lond., 1682, fol. 

(8) The Ceremony Monger, his cha- 
racter. Lond., 1689, 4to. Wood Ath. 
ii. 867 ; Mor., Col. App. 22. News 
from Doctor's Commons, or a true rela- 
tion of Mr. Hickeringill's appearance 
there, Jan. 8, 1681, upon a citation for 
marrying people without banns or a 
license. Lond., fol. News from Col- 
chefter concerning E. H., in a letter to 
an Honeft Whig at London. Fol., 
1 68 1. Scandalum Magnatum, or the 
great trial at Chelmsford Assizes, held 
March 6, betwixt Henry, Bifhop of Lon- 
don, and E. H., ed. 2, 1682, fol. The 
most humble Confession and Recantation 
of E. H. publicly made, read, signed, 
and sealed in the Common Hall of 
Doctor's Commons, London, on Fryday, 
the 2nd day of June, 1684. Fol. 1684. 

# P. 224. The return in 1650 is, 
' the church ruinated .... vacant.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

f P. 226. About 1650, Henry Bar- 



rington was rector, and mafter of the Hos- 
pital. Extracts from the Lambeth MSS. 
Morant Papers, Colchefter Museum. 
The return in the Lands. MSS. 459, is, 
' church decayed, and made an habita- 
tion for poor people. A cure of souls. 
Noe minifter.' 

J P. 227. The minifter in 1650 was 
William Boisard. See St. Mary, p. 303. 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

|| The return in 1650 is, 'an antient 
sequeftration, vacant.' Lands. MSS. 459. 

§ The return in 1650 is, 'church 
decayed. Noe house nor glebe. Noe 
tithes. An antient sequestration, vacant.' 
Lands. MSS. 459. 

^[ Memorials. 

** The rector was Thomas Eyre, 
p. 237. 

-j-j- Greenftead. See James, p. 304. 
John Jacobs was the minister in 1650. 
Lands. MSS. 459. Jacobs was succeeded 
by Paul Duckett, who conformed. 

XX The return in 1650 is, 'a donation, 
Mr. Thomas Buxton.' Lands. MSS. 
459. See St. Botolph. Memorials, p. 



306 



Appendix to Chap. VII. No. 2. 



Parliament, by the standing Committee at Chelmsford, in the 
county of Essex, March 3, 1646. 



Tho. Honeywood, 
A. Luther, 
William Collard. * 



J. Barnardiston, f 
Isaac Aleyn, J 



January 21, 1647. 

At the Committee of Lords and Commons appointed for the 
judging of scandal, and approving the classes of the counties of 
England. 

It is ordered by the said Committee, that the minifters and 
elders within named shall be fourteen classes, in the county of 
Essex, according to the several limits expressed, and shall 
make one province. 



Warwick. 
William Masham. 
Martin Lumley. 
Laurence Whitaker. 
"William Purefrey.§ 
Gilbert Gerard. H 



Manchester. 

Nath. Barnardiston.** 
Francis Rouse, ft 
Nath. Bacon.' %% 



* Of Albanes Beemfton. He died in 
April, 1668, aged 88. Mor. ii. 450. 

f Son of Sir Nathaniel Bamardifton. 

% Of Garnet's Hall, Margaret Roding. 
Mor. ii. 473. 

|| One of the members for Oke- 
hampton. 

§ One of the members for Warwick. 

9\ Baronet, one of the members for 
Middlesex. 

** Knight, one of the members for 
Suffolk. He was buried Aug. 26, 1653, 
and his funeral sermon was preached by- 
Sam. Fairclough. It was publifhed 



under the title of the ' Saint's Worthi- 
ness,' Lond., 1653, 4to. About the 
same time there was also publifhed 
' Suffolk's Tears 5 or, Elegies on that 
renowned knight, Sir Nathaniel Bamar- 
difton,' 4to. 

■fj One of the members for Truro, 
translator of the Psalms into Englifh 
metre, speaker of the 'Little Parliament,' 
afterwards one of Cromwell's lords. 
Carlyle, Cromwell iii. 263 

JJ One of the members for the Uni- 
versity of Cambridge. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1647 — 1662. 



THE supremacy of the Presbyterians proved to be only not 
as inimical to religious liberty as that of the Prelatists 
had been. In December, 1647, the London ministers published 
a c Teftimony to the Truth of Jesus Chrift, and to our Solemn 
League and Covenant, as also against the Errors, Heresies and 
Blasphemies of these times, and the toleration of them : to 
which is added a Catalogue of the said Errors.' This docu- 
ment was subscribed by fifty-eight of the most eminent paftors 
in London, of whom seventeen were of the Assembly of 
Divines. Among the errors thus protested against is that of 
toleration, which they denounce in the strongest terms, declaring 
that they account it 'unlawful and pernicious.' This elicited 
similar ' Testimonies ' from many of the county ministers. 
That which was issued in Essex, was published under the 
title of c A Testimony of the Ministers in the Province of 
Essex to the Truth of Jesus Christ and to the Solemn League 
and Covenant: as also against the Heresies and Blasphemies of 
these times, and the toleration of them ; sent up to the 
Minifters within the province of London, subscribers of the 
firft Teftimony.' * It was signed by one hundred and twenty- 
seven ministers. After some prefatory observations, they say : 
c We, therefore, whose names are hereunto subscribed, doe 
hereby declare and teftifie to yourselves, and to all our brethren, 
the minifters and members of this and all other churches of 
Christ: 1. That the confession of faith, directorie for worship 
and humble advice for church government, presented by the 

* Printed for The Underhill, at the Bible, in Wood Street, mdlviii. Neal ii. 260 j 
Rufhworth III _ 644. 

Z 2 



\ 



f 



308 Essex Tejlimony. 

Assembly of Divines to the honourable Parliament, are (as we 
conceive) so agreeable to the word of God, that we cannot but 
exceedingly blesse the name of our God for His presence with 
that Assembly, professing our hearty concurrence therein, and 
cheerfull readinesse to submit thereto; resolving likewise to 
continue humble suitors to the Throne of Grace, that our 
gracious God, in His due time, would stirre up the Parliament 
to eftablifh the foresaid confession of faith and advice for 
church government with their civil sanction, as they have 
already the directory for worship : 2. That we look upon our 
Solemn League and Covenant as a moft choice blessing from 
God to those churches and kingdomes so happily united 
therein, earnestly entreating the Lord to give us grace that we 
and all His people may continue faithful therein, and not to 
charge upon us, but of His abundant mercy to pardon, wherein 
we ourselves or the kingdom, have in any way therefrom 
hitherto receded : 3. That however we judge it moil agreeable 
to Chriftianity, that tender consciences of dissenting brethren be 
tenderly dealt withall, yet we dare not carry in our bosoms 
such steeley consciences and rockie hearts as not to mourne in 
our souls ; that after these strong engagements and such a 
solemn day of publike humiliation for suffering the growing 
and spreading of errors and heresies, yet, instead thereof (under 
colour of liberty of conscience), the same still are boldly and 
publikely vented and maintained, as much, if not more, than 
ever before, to the great dishonour of the great and dreadful 
name of Almighty God, the subversion of His most holy 
truth, the contempt of the publique worfhip, ordinances anS 
minifterie of Jesus Chrift, the perdition of unstable soules, the 
grief and scandall of friends to religion, and the great reproach 
of our church and kingdom ; the which, however, some may 
perhaps count wisdom to continue it, yet for our parts we 
do solemnlie and sincerelie professe, as in the presence of 
Almightie God, the searcher and judge of all hearts, that from 
our soules we do utterly detest and abhor, as all former cursed 
doctrines of Popery, Arminianisme, and Socinianisme, so like- 
wise, the damnable errors and blasphemies of these present 



Siege of Colchefter. 



309 



evill times, whether of Anti-scripturists , Famulists, Antinomians, 
Anti-Trinitarians, Arians, Anabaptists, or whatsoever else is 
found contrary to sound doctrine, and the power of godlinesse.' 

The wretched civil war was now approaching its unhappy 
crisis. Charles was a prisoner. A desperate attempt was 
made by the defeated Royalifts to recover their lost position. 
In June, 1648, a considerable body, under the command of 
Lord Goring, having previoufly seized the Parliamentary 
Committee then sitting at Chelmsford, had thrown themselves 
into Colchefter, where they suftained a siege which lafted till 
the August following. The sufferings of the inhabitants 
towards the close of the siege were extreme ; ' they had 
scarce one cat or dog left uneaten in the town, some horses 
they had yet alive, but not many, and as for bread, there was 
not corn left for one day's provision, and they made all kind 
of corn the town did afford, as malt, barley, oats, wheat, rye, 
pease, and all they could recover, into bread for eight weeks 
together.' The town surrendered on the 27th of August, and 
on the next day Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle, two 
of the Royal iff: commanders, were executed as traitors. * 

By the end of the year the crisis had arrived. Grave dis- 
sensions arose between the army and the Parliament, which 



* Mor. Col. 57, 73. 'The remonstrance 
and declaration of the Knights, Esquires, 
Gentlemen and Freeholders of Colchester, 
now in arms for the King and Kingdom.' 
Printed in the year 1648,410. 'Eng- 
land's Complaint : with a Vindication of 
those Worthys now in Colchester. By 
Lionel Gatward, B.D., the true but 
sequestered rector of Dinnington (Suffolk).' 
Lond. 1648,410. 'Colchester's Teares, 
affecting and afflicting City and Country, 
dropping from the sad face of a new war, 
threatening to bury in her own ashes that 
wofull town.' Lond., 1648, 4to. ' Mer- 
curius Progmaticus.' No. 14, June 27 — 
July 4, 1648. 'A Letter from the 
Leaguer before Colchefter.' London, 
1648, 4to. There are other letters of 



the leaguers in the ' Moderate Intel- 
ligencer,' No. 162, July 3 ; 173, July 14 j 
176, July 265 and in the 'Perfect 
Diurnal,' No. 260, July 26. ' A letter 
sent to the Honorable William Lenthall, 
with several letters from the Lord 
Norwich, Lord Capel, Sir Charles Lucas, 
and their agreement for the delivery of 
the town of Colchefter. The Petition of 
the Mayor and Aldermen of the Town : 
and the General's Answer, with the 
Results of the Council of War.' Lond. 
1 648, 4to. ' A Diary of the Siege of 
Colchester by the Forces under the Com- 
mand of His Excellency the Lord General 
Fairfax, from Tuesday, June 13, to Aug. 
22, 1648.' A Folio Broadside. Rush- 
worth vii. 



3io 



The High Court of fuf ice. 



resulted in the imprisonment of forty-seven members of the 
House of Commons, and the exclusion of ninety-eight. 
Among the imprisoned were Sir John Clotworthy, and Har- 
bottle Grimftone; and among the secluded was Sir Martin 
Lumley. * This was in December, and on the 28th of that 
month, an act was introduced to the House of Commons for 
c erecting of a high court of juflice for the trying and judging 
of Charles Stuart, king of England.' Among the members of 
that court were Sir Edward Bainton, Sir John Barrington, Sir 
John Bourchier, Richard Deane, Thomas Lord Grey, William 
Heveningham, Sir Thomas Honeywood, Sir William Masham, 
Sir Henry Mildmay, and Henry Mildmay. f By the 27th of 
January the Council had completed the trial of the King, and 
on the 30th his sentence was executed. J 

In the meanwhile the army had addressed the House of 



* Pari. Hist. iii. 1248. 

f Pari. Hist. iii. 1254. * Fellowes' 
Historical Sketches of Charles the Firft, 
Cromwell, Charles the Second, with all 
the principal persons of that period.' 
Lond., 1828, 4to. Bainton married 
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Henry May- 
nard, of Little Eafton, and sifter of the 
firft Lord Maynard. He was member for 
Chippenham, and seated at Bromham, in 
Wilts. He never acted. Mor. ii. 432 j 
Noble's Lives of the Englifti Regicides i. 
85, 1798. Noble confounds Sir Henry 
with Henry Maynard, of Walthamftow, 
of whom see Morant i. 34, 37. Bar- 
rington was sheriff of Essex in 1655. 
He also never acted. Mor. ii. 505 j 
Noble i. 89. Bourchier was a cousin ? of 
Sir John Barrington's, according to Noble, 
p. 103, but see Morant ii. 505. Deane 
fell in the naval engagement near North 
Foreland, Sept. 28, 1652. At his death 
he was possessed of the manor of Haver- 
ing, at Bower. Noble i. 176. Lord 
Grey was the grandson of Henry Grey, 
of Pirgo, who was created Lord Grey, of 
Groby, in 1603. He died before the 



restoration. Noble i. 260; Mor. ii. 61. 
Heveningham was the youngest son of 
Sir Arthur Heveningham, who was of the 
family of that name seated at Little 
Totham. He was sentenced to death at 
the reftoration, but was spared. Mor. 
386 ; Noble i. 348. Henry Mildmay 
was the second son of Sir Henry. He 
was of Graces. He never sat. He was 
buried in Little Baddow Church. Upon 
a stone within the altar rail there is this 
inscription : ' Hie jacet sepultum corpus 
Henrici Mildmay, Armigeri de Graces, 
filii Henrici Mildmay, militis. Qui hanc 
vitam reliquit decimo tertio die Decem- 
bris, 1692, in 73 anno aet. suae.' Deane 
and Grey signed the warrant for Charles' 
execution. 

J l Cromwell was in suspense about it. 
Fairfax was much disturbed in his mind, 
and changed purposes often every day. 
The Prefbyterians and the body of the 
city were much againft it, and were every- 
where fafting and praying for the King's 
preservation.' Burnet, Hiftory of his own 
times i. 46, 47, ed. 1724. 



The Agreement of the People. 311 

Commons in a petition, v/ith which they presented a paper, 
entitled, £ An Agreement of the people of England, and the 
places therewith incorporated, for a secure and present peace, 
upon grounds of common right, freedom, and safety.' In 
this paper they refer to the subject of ' toleration ' as follows : 
c 1. It is intended that the Chriftian religion be held forth and 
recommended as the public profession in this nation, which we 
desire may, by the grace of God, be reformed to the greatest 
purity in doctrine, worfhip, and discipline, according to the 
word of God ; the inftructing the people thereunto in a public 
way, so it be not compulsive, as also for the maintaining of 
able teachers for that end, and for the confutation or discovery 
of heresy, error, and whatsoever is contrary to sound doctrine, 
is allowed to be provided for by our representatives ; the 
maintenance of which teachers may be out of a public 
treasury, and we desire not by tithes, provided that popery 
or prelacy be not held forth as the public way or profeffion 
in this way. 2. That to the public profession so held forth 
none be compelled, by penalties or otherwise, but only may 
be endeavoured to be won by sound doctrine, and the example 
of a good conversation. 3. That such as profess faith in God 
by Jesus Christ, however differing in judgment from the 
doctrine, worfhip, and discipline publicly held forth as afore- 
said, shall not be restrained from, but shall be protected in the 
profession of their faith and exercise of their religion, ac- 
cording to their consciences in any place, except such as shall 
be set apart for the public worfhip ; where we provide not for 
them unless they have leave, so as they abuse not that liberty 
to the civil injury of others, or to actual difturbance of the 
public peace on their parts. Nevertheless, it is not intended 
to be hereby provided that this liberty shall necessarily extend 
to popery or prelacy. 4. That all laws, ordinances, statutes, 
and clauses in any law, statute, or ordinance, to the contrary of 
the liberty herein provided for, in the two particulars next 
preceding concerning religion, be and are hereby repealed and 
made void.' * 

* Pari. Hist, ill _ 1275. 



312 Tlie Essex Watchword. 

The c Agreement ' was shortly afterwards sent down into 
the county for the purpose of receiving signatures. This 
step exciting considerable apprehension on the part of a 
number of the Essex minifters who had previously signed 
the c Teflimony,' sixty-two of them publifhed an address to 
' the religious and well-affected, the nobility, gentry, yeomanry, 
arid others, dwelling within their several congregations,' in 
which, after an apologetic narrative of the part which they had 
taken in the civil war, and a fervid expremon of their deep 
regret and bitter disappointment at its unhappy issue, they 
commented upon that passage of the Agreement which related 
to religion, in the following terms :* 'Although this Agreement 
saith . ... it is intended that Chrijiian religion be held forth 
in this nation, &c, yet it doth not say by whom it is intended, 
nor doth it tell us what is that Chrijiian religion which is 
thus intended to be held forth ; whereas, they know little 
that do not know, that all the errors and seels that are or 
have been in the church of Chrifr. since the Apoftles days, do 
all lay claim to the title of Chrijiian religion, and may all 
by this agreement plead, at least stand as probationers for, 
the priviledge of publick profession, except popery and prelacy. 
We confess, indeed, that which is added of desire to have 
religion reformed in the greatejl purity in doclrine, worjbip and 
discipline, according to the word of God, and also care for in- 
structing of people in a publike way, and for the confutation of 
heresie and error, &c, is necessary and good .... but 
we conceive the particulars which are annexed, and added 
in this Agreement, are so inconsistent with the desire and care, 
as it is in vain to pretend either the one or the other if these 
may obtain. 

* 'The EfTex Watchman's Watchword premonition of the dangerous evil latent 
to the inhabitants of the said county, re- in a printed paper, entituled ' The Agree- 
speclively dwelling under their several ment of the People,' intended to be ten- 
charges, by way of an apologetical ac- dered to them for subscription. Ezek. 
count of their first engagement with iii. 17, xxxiii. 6 ; 2 Tim. iv. 5.' London, 
them in the cause of God, King, and printed for Ralph Smith, at the sign of 
Parliament, for their vindication from the Bible, near the Royal Exchange, 
unjust aspersions ; also by way of faithful 1649, 410. pp. 14. 



The Essex Watchword. 313 

c For first, .... there is one little parenthesis, that, like 
the flye in the box of oyntment, may make it an abhorring in 
the noftrils of every one who is knowingly judicious and pious ; 
and that is, where the inftrutling of people in a publick way, so 
it be not compulsive, is allowed, &c, which words so it be 
not compulsive, do certainly undermine not only the power 
of the civil magistrate, but even of family governors, in the 
things of God, or of His worfhip. For upon this Agreement 
no governor of any family may use any compulsion to his 
child or servant to cause him to attend upon the publique 
meanes of instruction, but must leave him free ; which, what an 
advantage it would be to unbridled youth, what an inlet to loose- 
ness and prophaneness in men's families, how contrary it is to 
the Fourth Commandment, and how much worse than that once 
so much lamented and detested declaration of the ting's for 
the toleration of sports upon the Lord's day, let conscience speak. 
And, secondly, It is expressly cautioned, that to the public 
profession so held forth none may be compelled by penalties or other- 
wise, but only may be endeavoured to be wonne by sound doctrine 
and the example of a good conversation. Were England now in 
a state of paganism, there might be some queftion of the 
lawfulness of compelling men to the profession of the Christian 
faith ; and yet, even then, it were without all queftion lawfull 
for the Chriftian magistrate to compell them to attend upon 
the ministry of the word .... if voluntarily they will not do it ; 
for otherwise what possibility of being won by sound doctrine? 
But the people of England, at least the generality of them, 

having given the hand to Jesus Christ already to 

desire or engage now, that none may be compelled to the profession 
of the Christian faith, is indeed to desire that men may have 
liberty to apostalize and caft off the profession of it, do despite 
the spirit of grace, trample under foot the blood of the covenant, 
crucifie the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 
.... which, how pleasing it would be to God, what a 
blessing it would be unto the nation, and how much it is to be 
desired and endeavoured by such as fear the Lord and wish 
the prosperity of England, we leave to themselves to judge. 



314 The Essex Watchword. 

4 We verily think that there is so much zeale for God and 
for his truth yet living in the breasts of the people here in 
England, as if it were but fully understood what the persons 
are for whom liberty is endeavoured .... that they would be so 
farre from subscribing their hands to this agreement, as at the 
very hearing of it, they would rend their clothes and caft dust 
upon their heads, yea, rather give their right hands to the fire, 
as holy Cranmer did after his subscription, than ever subscribe 
at all ; for who are the persons for whom the liberty is pro- 
vided .... Who almost is there that will not profes faith in 
God by Jesus Chrift ? Not only Anabaptists, Antinomians, 
Arminians, but Arrians, Socinians, Photinians, those that hold 
the most blasphemous errors about the godhead of Chrift, and of 
the Holy Spirit, yea, the Papists themselves, who all will prof esse 
faith in God by Jesus Christ, will come in for their share in 
this liberty, especially considering that is added, however dif- 
fering in judgment from the doctrine, discipline, or worjhip 
established, &c. ; that let the differences be of never so great a 
latitude .... yet, professing faith in God by Jesus Christ, they 
shall not be refrained from the profession of their faith and exercise 
of religion, though their faith be blasphemous and the exercise 
of their religion grosse idolatory, yet they shall not be restrained 
from it: nay, that's too little, they shall be protected in it ... . 
in any places except places appointed for publik worship : where, say 
they, we provide not for them except they have leave. But 
whether this be the leave of the supreme magistrate, or the 
leave of the inferior magistrate, or the leave of the minifler, 
or of the people assembled in such place of publike worship, or 
any part of them, who can tell ? To be sure here is a door wide 
enough for the masse with all its equipage to come in at ... . 
The penners or promoters of this agreement would faine beget 
an opinion of themselves, that they are great enemies to popery 
and prelacy. But wherein ? they had provided before that 
popery and prelacy be not held forth as the publike way or pro- 
fession in this nation. This denyes not but that both may be 
tolerated in the nation ; and this third branch makes provision 
that they may, for both prelacy and popery, make profession of 



Thomas Cawton. 315 

faith in God by fesus Chrift, and however they say here that 
it is not intended that this liberty should necessarily extend 
to popery and prelacy, that does not deny but that arbitrarily it 
may ; and though they tell us it is not intended that it should, 
yet their very words show it was never intended it should not 

These things we have written, God is our record .... 
only to clear ourselves, if not from prejudice, yet at least from 
guilt, and to discharge the duty of our place by giving you this 
publike and joint warning of these snares we see prepared for 

you Then let us in the bowels of Jesus Christ beseech 

you, as you tender your present and eternal good, and the good 
of your deare posterities, yea, in His name we require you and 
charge you as you would not be found guilty of all the errors, 
idolatrie, blasphemie, wickedness, irreligion, that by this flood- 
gate, if once opened, will break in upon this nation, have 
nothing to do with this sinful ensnaring agreement; avoid it, flie 
from it, as from the surest, if not onely engine Sathan hath now 
left him for the demolishing of the beauty, yea, being of religion, 
and the advancing of popery, error, blasphemy, and whatever 
may make us an abhorring to God, a hissing to men, and an 
execration to all the churches of Jesus Chrift.' 

The influence of the Presbyterians now rapidly declined, 
and the ascendancy was transferred to the Independents, who 
had always declared themselves in favour of liberty of con- 
science. Partly with a view to the recovery of their lost 
position, and partly from sincere Royalist convictions, some 
of the Prefbyterian ministers allowed themselves to be drawn 
into a conspiracy for the restoration of Charles II. Among 
others who were thus implicated in the crime of high treason, 
was Thomas Cawton, and his relative William Jenkyn. Of 
Jenkyn I shall have occasion to speak in the c Memorials.' 
Cawton was a native of Raynham, in the county of Norfolk, 
where he was born in 1605. He was educated at Oueen's 
College, Cambridge. After having spent some years, first at 
Afhwell, in Cambridgeshire, and then at Orton, in the county 
of Huntingdon, in 1637, he was presented to the rectory of 



3 16 Wivenhoe, Colchester. 

Wivenhoe. While there he often preached at Colcheiler, for 
his friend, Robert Harmer, who was then lecturer of that town. 
There he also married Elizabeth, the daughter of William 
Jenkyn, c a renowned preacher in Sudbury, and grandchild 
to the famous Mr. Richard Rogers, of Wethersfield.' He 
removed from Wivenhoe in 1644, when he became ' minifter' 
at St. Bartholomew's, behind the Royal Exchange, mainly 
through the influence of Sir Harbottle Grimftone, c who at 
that time dwelt in the same parifh, and was his exceeding good 
friend.' It was not the first time that Cawton had involved him- 
self in trouble by his strong Royalist sympathies. In the month 
of February, after the execution of Charles I., being called to 
preach before the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London, he 
had so expressed himself, especially in his prayer, as to incur 
the displeasure of the then government, and was accordingly 
imprisoned in the Gate House, where he remained from the 
3rd of March to the 14th of August. After his release he 
returned to his miniftry at St. Bartholomew's. The con- 
spiracy into which he was now drawn is known as c Love's plot.' 
On its discovery, he concealed himself for some time in the 
house of William Whittaker, at Hornchurch, and at length 
escaped to Holland, where he settled at Rotterdam. He died 
in that city, August 7, 1659. * 

It would be foreign to the purpose of these pages to trace 
the proceedings which led to the eftablifhment of the Protecto- 
rate. Oliver Cromwell was inaugurated December 16, 1653, 



* ' The Life and Death of that holy his Majefty, for which he was committed 
and reverend man of God, Mr. Thomas prisoner to the Gate House, in Weftmin- 
Cawton, some time Minifter of the Gospel fter.' Lond., 1662, 8vo. This memoir was 
at St. Bartholomew's, behind the Royal written by Cawton's son ; of whom see 
Exchange, and lately preacher to the Memorials. The preface bears, among 
Englifh congregation at Rotterdam, in other signatures, that of Edward Calamy. 
Holland ; with several of his speeches and Harmer was of St. John's College, Cam- 
letters, while in exile for his loyalty to the bridge. He was appointed as the succeflor 
King's most excellent Majefty. To of John Knowles (of whom see Memo- 
which is annexed, a Sermon preached by rials), Oct. 9, 1639. Colchefter Assem- 
him at Mercer's Chappel, Feb. 25, 1648, bly Book} Mor., Col. 100 ; Whitaker, 
not long after the inhumane beheading of Memorials. 



The Triers. 317 

and, in the inftrument under which he took office, 'Articles' 
were introduced on the subjecl: of religion, which substantially 
agreed with the proposals contained in the c Agreement of the 
People.' * Cromwell's first Parliament proved to be short-lived. 
It assembled on the 3rd of September, 1654, and was dissolved 
on the 22nd of January following, f For some time Cromwell 
now governed in conjunction with his Council. 

Among other Acts of this period was one for the repeal of 
certain Acts and Resolves of Parliament for taking the engage- 
ment, upon the plea, as stated in the preamble, that such 
1 general and promissory oaths and engagements in former times 
imposed had proved burthens and snares to tender consciences.' 
This AcT: was passed 19th January, 1653, and was afterwards 
confirmed in 1656. J This was followed, on the 20th March, 
by an Act for the appointment of Commissioners for the 
approbation of Public Preachers, which had become necessary 
in order to legalize presentations and elections to parochial and 
other benefices. The functions of these Commissioners were 
expressly limited to their approval of the candidate as c a person 
for the grace of God in him, his holy and unblameable con- 
versation, as also for his knowledge and utterance, fit to preach 
the gospel.' Any interference with the rights of conscience 
would have been illegal. Among the Commissioners were 
John Owen, Samuel Slater, Stephen Marshall, Samuel Fair- 
clough, Obadiah Sedgwick, and Daniel Dyke.|| And on the 

* Pari. Hift. iii. 141 6 — 1426. See Turner, of Little Parndon (Mor. ii. 496), 

Art. xxxv., xxxviii. p. 1425. Richard Cutts, Oliver Raymond, and 

f Carlyle, Cromwell ii. 22, 88. The Herbert Pelham, of Peyton Hall, Alphan- 

members for Essex were, Sir Will. stone (Mor. i. 267 ; Wood, Ath. ii. 471) j 

Mafham, Sir Richard Everard, of Great for Maiden, Joachim Matthews 5 and 

Waltham, and nephew of Sir Tho. for Colchefter, John Barkstead, and John 

Barrington (Noble, H. of Cromwell ii. Maid (tone. 
58 ; Mor. ii. 87), Sir Tho. Honeywood, £ Scobell ii. 277, 389. 

Sir Thomas Bowes, Henry Mildmay, || Scobell ii. 270. These names only 

Thomas Coke (Cook), of Pebmarsh, are sufficiently suggeftive of the design of 

(Wood, Fast. ii. 95 ; Mor. ii. 263), the commission. Owen was an Inde- 

Carew Mildmay, Sir Samuel Sleigh, pendent, Dyke was a Baptist, all the rest 

Dinoysius Wakening, of Barrow Hall, were Presbyterians. 
Great Wakering (Mor. i. 306), Edward 



V 



3i8 The Triers. 

28th of August, 1654, an A£t was passed for the ' more 
effectual Propagation of the Gospel,' by the appointment of 
c Commissioners within the respective Counties ' for the re- 
moval of c scandalous and insufficient minister,' which was also 
confirmed in 1656. The Commissioners appointed for Essex 
were, Wakering, Honeywood, Masham, Raymond, Cook, Mat- 
thews, Barrington, Pelham, and Henry and Carew Mildmay, 
the late members ; and John Brewfler, Dudley Templer, 
Robert Crane, John Fenning, William Masham, Robert 
Barrington, Richard Harlackenden, Arthur Barnardiston, 
Robert Maidstone, John Meade, and Hezekiah Haynes. 
These Commissioners had as their assistants the following 
ministers : c Mr. Stalham,of Terling; Mr. Willis, of Ingerstone; 
Mr. Sams, of Coggeshall ; Mr. Sparrow of Halsted ; Mr. 
Glover, of Finchingfield ; Mr. Peck, of Prittlewell; Mr. Warren, 
of Hatfield Broadoak; Mr. Martin Holbech, of Felsted; Mr. 
Matthew Newcomen, of Dedham.' The AcT: was passed 
August 28, 1654, and was afterwards confirmed in 1656. * 

It is of these Commissioners that Baxter, who was certainly 
no flatterer of Cromwell, and regarded the Protectorate with 
anything but favour, says : c To give them their due, they did 
abundance of good in the church. They saved many a con- 
gregation from ignorant and drunken teachers, that sort of men 
who intended no more in the ministry than to say a few sermons 
as leaders say their common prayers, and so patch up a few 
good words together to talk the people asleep with on a Sunday, 

* Scobell ii. 335» 34^? 3^9- Brewfter p. 285. Kennet says, 'the Protector 
was of Withheld, Great Ilford. Mor. i. 8. was for liberty and the utmost latitude to 
Robert Barrington was of Little Baddow all parties, and even the prejudices he had 
Hall. He was the third son of Sir against the Episcopal party were more for 
Thomas. He married Lucia, daughter of their being Royalists than for their being 
Sir Richard Wiseman, of Torrel's Hall, of the good old church. Dr. Gunning, 
Willingale Doe. Mor. ii. 22. For the afterwards Bishop of Ely, kept a con- 
ministers, see the Memorials. It is true venticle in London in as open a manner 
that the Commissioners were empowered as the Dissenters did j and so did several 
by the Act to eject and displace all ' such other Episcopal divines.' Complete Hist, 
as have publiquely and frequently read or of England iii. 223. Carlyle, Cromwell 
used the Common Prayer Book,' but see iii. 9. 
note p. 213 j see also Will. Parsons, 



James Parnell. 319 

and all the rest of the week to go with them to the ale-house.' 
The same great man, in 1656, thus speaks of the condition of 
the ministry : c For all the faults that are now among us, I do 
not believe that ever England had so noble and faithful a 
ministry since it was a nation as it hath at this time \ and I 
fear that few nations on earth, if any, have the like. Sure I 
am, the change is so great within these twelve years, that it is 
one of the greatest joys that ever I had in the world to behold 

it I know that there are some men whose parts I 

reverence, who, being in point of government of another mind 
from them, will be offended at my very mention of this happy 
alteration ; but I must confess if I were absolutely prelatical, if 
I know my heart, I could not choose for all that but rejoice.' * 
Religious liberty was now predominant. As might have been 
expected, the newly acquired right was anything but wisely 
used by some of those who had been among the most clamorous 
for its enjoyment. On the 4th of July, 1655, there was a day 
of general fasting, prayer, and public collection of money for the 
poor and persecuted Protestants of Piedmont. When the con- 
gregation were assembled for these purposes in the parish 
church of Coggeshall, one James Parnell took upon him to 
disturb them. For this breach of the peace he was apprehended 
and brought up before Herbert Pelham, Thomas Cook, 
Dionysius Wakering, and William Harlackenden, Justices, 
all of whom had been present at the service. They required 
him to find bail for his good behaviour, and there being none 
forthcoming, committed him to prison. At the next gaol 
delivery, he was tried for his breach of the peace, at Chelmsford, 
when he was sentenced to pay a fine of ^40, and also again 
required to find bail. In default of both he was then committed 
to Colchester Castle, where he remained until his death in the 
April following. After his death, a coroner's inquest was held 
on his body ; a full account of which was afterwards published. 
The coroner and jury say, ' ... we found his body very spare 
. . . . but no blemish save only a swelling on one of his 

* Life and Times, 72 5 Reformed Paftor civ 8, ii. sub. fin. 



320 James Parnell. 

toes. It having been very generally reported that he had 
rejected any food for a long time, we called for the wife of 
Thomas Shortland, .... the woman that for the most part 
brought him his provisions. She and her husband being very 
conversant with him all the time he lay in the caftle, being both 
of them his disciples, we demanded how long he had failed ; 
she answered ten daies .... during all which time he took 
no succour ; .... we afked her if he were sick, or com- 
plained .... of any impediment .... she answered, 
c nay, nay .... he was well, he was well, he was strong, 
he was strong ;' . . . .we asked her if it were a wilful 
act of him to reject his food .... she answered, c yea, yea, 
it was free, it was free,' .... and that he had done it in 

obedience unto a divine command She further affirmed 

unto us, that a month before these ten daies .... he eat very 

little, and that after the ten daies he assaied to eat 

Her husband likewise affirmed the most part of these things 
to be true of his own knowledge. Likewise a prisoner, which 
lay in the said room with (him), said that (he) had a burning 
heat in one of his legs, and that he sat one whole night with 
his stocking down, and that leg against the door, when it was 
very cold .... The gaoler being examined saith, he would 
faine have had liberty to have walked upon the top of the 
cattle all alone ; the gaoler told him that he perceived such 
diftempers in him, as he durst not yield .... fearing lest he 
should do himself some harm, or cast himself down off the 
walls. They all say he lived but three days after his fast was 
over. Upon which evidence,' they add, c we could bring in 
our verdict no otherwise than as followeth : ' We find that 
James Parnell, through his wilful rejecting of his natural food 
for ten daies together, and his wilful exposure of his limbs to 
the cold, to be the cause and hastening of his own end, and 
by no other means that we can learn or know of. ' * 

* ' A True and Lamentable Relation himself in the prison of Colchefter $ 
of the most desperate death of James together with the atteftation of the chiefe 
Parnell, quaker, who wilfully starved magiftrates of the town, and the coroner, 



Death of Cromwell. 



321 



The great career of the Protector closed in 1658. In 
the month of Auguft he sickened, and on the 3rd of Sep- 
tember, he 'fell on sleep.' On the death of Cromwell, his 
son, Richard, became his successor. 

Richard's first Parliament assembled in the January after his 
acceilion. The Essex members were : for the county, the Hon. 
Charles Rich and Edward Turner; for Colchefter, John Shaw and 
Abraham Johnson ; for Maiden, Henry Mildmay and Joachim 
Matthews ; and for Harwich, John Sicklemore and Thomas 
King. * This Parliament was dissolved in the month of April. 



signed with their own hands, and by them 
desired to be made publique j as also his 
blasphemous letter to Do&or Glisson, of 
the same town, and his answer returned 
thereunto ; an example of admonition to 
those of his own faction, and may serve 
for honour to all that shall peruse it.' 
London, 1656, 4to., pp. 6. 'The 
Quaker's Fear ; wonderful, strange, and 
true news from the famous town of 
Colchefter, in Essex, shewing the manner 
how one James Parnell, a Quaker by 
profession, took upon him to fast twelve 
days and twelve nights without any sus- 
tenance at all, and called the people that 
were his followers or disciples, and said 
that all the people of England that were 
not of their congregation were all damned 
creatures ; also of his blasphemous life and 
scandalous death in the jayl at Colchefter, 
this present month of April, 1656. A 
Ballad.' Black letter broadside, with 
three woodcuts. During his imprison- 
ment Parnell wrote and publifhed, < The 
Fruits of a Fast, &c.,' London, 4to., pp. 
30 ; also ' GoUah's Head cut off with 
his own Sword, in a contest between 
little David . . . and great Goliah, the 
proud boafter, in answer to . . . Thomas 
Draton, a teacher of the word at Abbey 
Rippon, in Huntingdonshire.' Lond., 
1655, 4-to., pp. 85. It is not easy to 
account for Besse's story, which seems to 
be the origin of the local tradition. 



'Collection of the Sufferings of the 
people called Quakers,' 186, 190, et 
seqq ; see also ' The Lamb's defence 
against Lyes, and a true teftimony given 
concerning the death of James Parnell,' 
Lond., 4to., 1656, pp. 30 ; and George 
Fox's * Myftery of the Great Whore Un- 
veiled,' Lond., 1659. Before his im- 
prisonment, Parnell had publifhed, * A 
Trial of Faith, wherein is discovered the 
ground of the faith of the Hypocrite 
. . . and the faith of the Saints.' Lond., 
1654, 4to., pp. 8 5 and 'The Trumpet of 
the Lord blowne.' Lond., 1654, pp. 13. 
For the outbreak at Coggefhall, see also 
Dale, Annals of C, p. 172. 

* Pari. Hift. iii. 1532. Rich was 
afterwards Earl of Warwick. Shaw was 
made recorder of the borough after the 
reftoration, and was knighted in 1677. 
He died in January, 1681. He was 
buried in the chancel of Trinity Church, 
Colchefter. Mor. Col. 118, Ap. 20. 
King's name appears in a list of the 
' Principal labourers in a great design of 
Popery and Arbitrary Power, who have 
betrayed their Country to the Conspirators 
and bargained with them,' &c, Amfter- 
dam, 1677. 'Harwich, Thomas King, 
Esq., a pensioner for £50 a seflion, &c, 
meat and drink, and now and then a suit 
of clothes.' This pamphlet is said to 
have been written by Andrew Marvel. 
Pari. Hift. iv. Ap. xxv. 

A A 



322 Breda Declaration. 

Affairs now soon assumed a critical position — a reactionary 
spirit was abroad, which the hand of Richard proved too feeble 
to control. The ' rump ' of the old long Parliament was 
recalled. The Royalist and Prefbvterian parties coalesced, 
communication was opened with Charles, and when matters 
were sufficiently ripened, a declaration was obtained from him, 
he being then at Breda, bearing date April 14, 1660, in which 
he says := — 'Let all our subjects, how faulty soever, rely upon 
the word of a king, solemnly given them bv this present 
declaration, that no crime whatsoever, committed against us 
or our roval father before the publication of this, shall ever 
rise in judgment or be brought in queftion against any of 
them, we desiring and ordaining that henceforward all notes 
of discord, separation, and difference of parties be utterly 
abolifhed among all our subjects. . . . ' The King adds, 'and 
because the passion and uncharitableness of the times have 
produced several opinions in religion .... we do declare a 
liberty to tender consciences, and that no man shall be dis- 
quieted or called in queftion for differences .... which do 
not difturb the peace of the kingdom, and that we shall be 
readv to consent to such an Act of Parliament as ... . shall 
be offered to us for the full granting that indulgence.' * 

The ' rump ' had dissolved itself in March, and writs had 
been issued for a new Parliament, to meet on the 28th of 
April. In the meanwhile several of the gentry of the count}' 
addressed General Monk, whose purpose was now generally 
underffood, in 'A Declaration and Address of the Gentry in 
the county of Essex who have adhered to the King, and 
suffered imprisonment or sequeltration during the late troubles,' 
which is ' superscribed to his Excellencie the Lord Generall 
Monk. 3 They say, 'We . . . taking notice how induftrious 
some pernitious and desperate persons have been to raise a 
jealousie, that all who adhered to the King have such a set- 
tlement of rancour and revenge in their hearts against those 
who were of a different party, that the blessing of a firm and 

* Rapin, Hift. E., ii. 616. 



Essex Gentry. 323 

lafting peace so long wifht for, and now hoped to be in a 
near propinquity, is not likely to take its due and desired effect, 
have thought fit to explain the true sense of our hearts in a 
declaration which we have inclosed herein : conceiving it 
very fitting not to make the same more publique till it hath 
first arrived at the view of your Excellency, whom God hath 
pleased to make so signally eminent in the delivery of this 

nation ' The declaration is as follows : — c Whereas 

Almighty God hath raised this diffracted nation to some hopes 
of resettlement on just, known, and lasting foundations, we 
magnifie his mercy from the bottom of our hearts, and shall 
ever pay a most grateful acknowledgment to his Excellency 
the Lord General Monk, as the signal instrument of so great a 

deliverance We think ourselves bound to declare to 

all the world (in the presence of God), that we deteft and 
abhorre all thoughts of animosity or revenge against any party 
or persons whatsoever. For as we could wish the late divisions 
had never been begotten, so we desire they may for ever be 
buryed, and shall think those persons the greatest and common 
enemies of our country who shall offer to revive them. And 
we also declare, that we will thankfully submit to attend the 
resolutions of the next ensuing Parliament for a just and happy 
settlement of Church and State, that so at last (by God's 
blessing), the odious marks of sides and parties may for ever 
be blotted out, and a perfect union may again be reftored to 
this diftressed nation.' * 

* i This declaration and address was 263), Sir Ben. Ayloffe (of Great Brack- 
agreed upon by the subscribers, at a stead, ib. ii. 139), Sir Denner Strutt (of 
general meeting at Chelmsford, in Essex, Little Warley Hall, ib. i. 115), Sir Hum- 
Sept. 17, 1660, Sir Benjamin Ayloffe and phrey Mildmay (of Danbury, ib. ii. 29), 
Sir Edmund Pierce being then appointed Sir John Tirrell (of Herons, ib. i. 209), 
and desired to present this to his Excel- Sir Cranmer Harris (of Cricksea), Sir 
lencie, which was done accordingly, at Edmund Peirce, Sir Henry Wroth, Kt. 
St. James', the 19th of the same month.' (of Loughton, ib. i. 164), Gamaliel 
A broadside printed for Gabriel Bedell Capel (of Springfield, ib. i. 24), Anthony 
and Thomas Collins, London, B. M. Browne (of South Weald, ib. ii. 118), 
The subscribers were, Edmund Russell Charles Fytche, Esq. (of Little Canefield 
(of North Ockenden, Mor. i. 103), Sir ib. ii. 463), Thomas Argall, Esq. (of 
Henry Appleton (of South Benflete, ib. i. Walthamflow, ib. ii. 37), Stephen Smyth, 

A A 2 



324 Essex Members. 

The Parliament that was now elected is known as the 
'Convention Parliament.' The Essex members were: John 
Bramfton and Edward Turner, for the county; Sir Harbottle 
Grimfton [and John Shaw, for Colchefter ; Tristam Conyers 
and Edward Harris, for Maiden ; and Capel Luckyn and 
Henry Wright, for Harwich.* Sir Harbottle Grimftone was 
chosen speaker of the new House. On the 1st of May, 
letters were read from the King to either House of Parliament, 
enclosing copies of the Breda Declaration; that to the Com- 
mons concluding thus : ' In a word there is nothing that you 
can propose, that may make the kingdom happy, which we 
will not tend with you to compass .... and we hope that 
we have made that right Chriftian use of our affliction, and 
that the observation and experience we have had in other 
countries hath been such, as that we hope all our subjects 
shall be the better for what we have seen and suffered.' 

The resolution to recall the King was now taken. On the 
8th he was formally proclaimed. On the 25th he arrived at 
Dover, and on the 29th, which was his birthday, he arrived at 
Whitehall. Two days afterwards the House of Commons 
were received by the King in the banquetting house at 
Whitehall, when Sir Harbottle Grimstone spoke as follows : 
c Most gracious and dear sovereign : if all the reason and elo- 
quence that is dispensed in so many several heads and tongues 

Esq. (of Blackmore, ib. ii. 57), Salter 525), James Cookson, and Edmund 

Harris, Henry Pert, John Fanfhawe (of Cook. 

Malmaynes, Barking, ib. i. 84), Thomas * Pari. Hist. iv. 3. Sir John Bram- 

Roberts (of Little Bracksted, ib. ii. 144), ston was the son of the notorious judge of 

William Ayloffe (son of Sir Benj., ib. ii. that name. He was of Skreenes, Rox- 

139), James Altham (of Leyton, ib. i. well, in the church of which parifh his 

24), Dr. John Michaelson, Richard remains were buried. He died Feb. 4, 

Symonds (the author of the notes so fre- 1690. Conyers was of Walthamftow. 

quently quoted in these pages, of the Pool, Mor. i. 49. Harris was of Great 

Great Yeldham, ib. ii. 303), Anthony Baddow, and Lincoln's Inn ? Mor. ii. 

Kempson, William Harris, Rich. Hum- 54. Luckyn was of Mefling Hall, and 

phrey, John Lynn (of Little Horksley, the son-in-law of Sir Harbottle Grimfton, 

ib. ii. 236), William Bramston, John the speaker of this Parliament. Mor. ii. 

Brown, Nicholas Serle, John Vavasour, 177. Wright was afterwards a baronet. 

John Grene (of Little Sandford, ib. ii. He was of Henham Hall? Mor. ii. 568. 



Har bottle Gr'imflone. 325 

as are in the whole world, were conveyed into my brain, and 
united in my tongue, yet should I want sufficiency to 
discharge that great task I am now enjoined. The resti- 
tution of your Majesty .... hath been .... brought to 
pass by a miraculous way of Divine Providence, beyond and 
above the reach .... of our understandings, and therefore to 

be admired, impossible to be expressed We doubt not 

but that your name is registered in the records of heaven, to 
have a glorious place in the highest form among those glorious 
martyrs of whom it is reported, that through faith in Chriffc 
and patience in their sufferings, they converted their very 
tormentors ; . . . they had their ' vicisti,' and that deservedly; 
but your Majefty must have a treble c vicisti,' for ... . 
you have overcome and conquered the hearts and affections 

of all your people in the three great nations It 

was a . . . . custom among the Romans, when any of their 

commanders had done eminent services abroad, at their return 
to honour them with triumphs and riding through their streets ; 
there they received the praises .... of the people, with this 

inscription upon their laurel crowns, c vincenti dabitur.' But 
your Majesty's victory .... as it differs much from theirs in 

the quality of it, so your triumph must differ as much from 
theirs in the manner of it. They conquered bodies, but your 
Majesty hath conquered souls ; they conquered for the honour 
and good of themselves, but your Majesty hath conquered for 
the honour and good of your peoples ; they conquered with 
force, but your Majesty hath conquered with faith; they con- 
quered with power, but your Majefty hath conquered with 
patience, and therefore God himself hath written your motto, 
and inscribed it upon your royal crown, c patienti dabitur;' 
.... their triumphs lasted but for a day, but your Majesty's 

triumph must last for all your days, and after that to triumph 
in heaven to all eternity. ....... 

I have it further in command to present you .... with a 

Petition of Right It hath already pleased two great 

houses Heaven and Earth, and I have' Vox Populi' and c Vox 
Dei ' to warrant this bold demand. It is, that your Majesty 



326 Harbottle Grhnftone. 

would be pleased to resume your throne of state, and to set it up 
in the hearts of your people ; and as you are deservedly the 
King of hearts, there to receive from vour people a crown of 
hearts. Sir, this crown hath three excellent and rare properties ; 
it is a sweet crown, it is a fast crown, and it is a lasting crown; 
it is a sweet crown, for it is perfumed with nothing but the 
incense of prayers and praises ; it is a fast crown, for it is set 
upon your royal head by Him who only hath the power of hearts, 
the King of Kings ; and it is a lasting crown, vour Majefty 
can never wear it out, for the longer you wear this crown it 
will be better for the wearing ; and it is the hearty desire and 
most earnest prayer of all vour loyal, loving, and faithful sub- 
jects that you may never change that crown till vou change it 
for a better — a crown of eternal glory in the highest heavens ; 
and the Lord say, Amen.'"* 

At first appearances were much in favour of the sincerity of 
Charles. Several of the leading Presbyterians were promoted 
by him, and among them Edmund Calamv. As early, however, 
as the 25th of October, Charles issued a declaration, from 
which it was already evident that the promise of a ' liberty to 
tender consciences,' was hardly to be relied upon.t The King 
had pledged himself to the speedy convocation of a conference; 
in the declaration he announced his determination for the 
present to poftpone it ; and when it was at length assembled in 
the Savoy, several months afterwards, all doubt, if anv still 
remained, was speedily removed, that no concessions ever were 
intended to be made, or ony ' liberty of conscience ' to be 
allowed. 

The Convention Parliament was dissolved on the 22nd of 
December, but not without having struck the first blow at the 
too sanguine hopes of £ tender consciences.' In September, 
the King had given his consent to a measure, entitled, c An Act 

* 'Speech of Sir Harbottle Grimftone, 1660, 410. It Is reprinted in the Pari. 

Bart., speaker of the new House of Com- Hist. iv. 56 — 58. 

mons, to the King's most excellent f Wilkin, Concilia iv. 560 ; Card- 
Majesty : delivered in the Banquetting well, Conf. 286 ; Pari. Hist. iv. 131. 
House, at Whitehall.' Lond., May 31, 



Act for the Confirming and Restoring of Ministers. 327 

for the Confirming and Restoring of Miniflers.' By the first 
section of this Act, it was provided, c That every ecclefiaftical 
person, being ordained by any ecclefiaftical persons before the 
five and twentieth day of December last past, and having not 
renounced his ordination, who hath been formally, since the 
first day of January, 1642, presented to any ecclefiaftical 
benefice which hath become void to the patron, shall be and 
continue the real and lawful incumbent.' This was sufficiently 
ominous, as it reftricfed the c confirming ' provision of the 
Ac!:, even in the case of those who, on all grounds, must be held 
to have succeeded regularly to their benefices, not only to such 
of them as had received Episcopal ordination, but also to such 
of them as had continued to maintain Episcopal opinions up to 
the end of the preceeding year; and these we must in charity 
infer to have been very few. And the fifth provided that, c every 
ecclesiaftical person formerly sequeftered shall be restored 

at or before the said five and twentieth day of 

December, and that every ecclesiaftical person who shall be 
removed shall give his penal bonds to the parson so to be 
restored, to render to him the moiety of the clear profits and 
tithes from Michaelmas laft paft to Michaelmas next ensuing.' 
This last had the effect of ejecting scores of England's best and 
ablest ministers, and consigning them at once to penury, while 
it restored an equal number of men, by far the majority of 
whom had proved themselves to be unworthy of their office, 
and a scandal to the church.' * 

Grimftone's speech to the King, at the diffblution, was 
characteristic. It thus concludes : c You have outdone your 
Parliament .... as we have nothing more to say, so we 
have nothing more to do, but that which we will be a doing as 
long as we have a being, the pouring out of all our souls unto 
Almighty God for your Majesty's long, long, long, and most 
happy, blefTed, glorious and prosperous reign over us.' f 

The new Parliament, which has earned for itself the un- 
enviable distinction of the c Pensionary Parliament,' assembled 

* 12 Charles EL * Pari. Hist. iv. 169, 170. 



328 Pensionary Parliament. 

on the 8th of May, 1661. The members for EfTex were: Sir 
Benjamin Ayloffand John Bramflon \ for Colchefter, Sir Har- 
bottle Grimftone and John Shaw ; for Maldon, Sir John 
Tyrrell and Sir Richard Wiseman \ and for Harwich, Capel 
Lukin and Henry Wright. * The House of Commons chose 
for their speaker Edward Turner, of Little Parndon, who 
had recently received the honour of knighthood, as attorney to 
James, Duke of York, and now sat for the borough of Hert- 
ford. Turner, if poffible, outdid Grimftone in fulsome adula- 
tion of the King. His address to Charles, at the opening of 
Parliament, concludes with the following sentences : c Great 
sir, whilst this your native country was unworthy of you, 
foreign nations were made happy in the knowledge of your 
person, your piety, and your wisdom. And now the Lord our 
God hath brought you home and set you on your throne, your 
subjects long to see you. What striving and rejoicing was 
there at your first landing to us, to see your rising sun ! What 
striving was there at your coronation, to see the imperial crown 
set on your royal head ! What striving hath here lately been 
in all the counties, cities, and boroughs of this nation, who 
should be set up to hear your wisdom, and confer with you in 
Parliament ! Royal sir, these chosen worthy meffengers are 
not come up empty-handed : they are laden, they are sent up 
to you heavy laden, from their several counties, cities, and 
boroughs. If the affections of all Englifhmen can make you 
happy : if the riches of this nation can make you great : if the 
strength of this warlike people can make you considerable at 
home and abroad ; be allured you are the greatest monarch in 
the world. Give me leave, I beseech you, to double my words, 
and say it again ; I wish my voice could reach to Spain, and 
to the Indies, too ; You are the greatest monarch in the 
world ! ! ' 

Simultaneously with the opening of the Parliament, Convo- 
cation also met. After going through sundry preliminary 
matters, and having made some progress in examining some 

* Wiseman was of Torrell's, Willingdale Doe ? Mor. ii. 479. 



Convocation. 329 

portions of a book of canons, c in the session of the 21st of 
November, the bishops,' says Cardwell, ' entered upon the 
consideration of the Book of Common Prayer, and directed ' 
eight of their number c to proceed without loss of time in pre- 
paring it for their revision. So earnest, however, were they in 
this matter, and so clearly directed in their judgment .... 
that they were able to dispense with their newly-appointed 
committee, and to make considerable progress in the revision 
of the liturgy at the same meeting. On the day following they 
held two seffions for the same purpose ; and on Saturday, the 
23rd of November, a portion of the Book of Common Prayer, 
containing the corrections of the bishops, was delivered to the 
prolocutor of the lower house, with an injunction that they 
should proceed to examine it with all possible expedition. The 
lower clergy were not surpassed in zeal and promptitude by 
their superiors. Three days afterwards, when the bishops had 
finifhed their labours and placed the second moiety in the hands 
of the prolocutor, the clergy of the lower house delivered back 
the first portion, together with their schedule of amendments. 
With labourers so earnest and so friendly the whole work was 
speedily completed, A new preface was adopted, the calendar 
was reconstructed, a form of prayer provided for use at sea ; 
and, on the 13th day of December, a committee, consisting of 
members of both houses, was instructed to make a diligent 
examination and laft revision of the whole book ; . . . . and, 
finally, on the 20th of December, 1661, the Book of Common 
Prayer was adopted, and subscribed by the clergy of both 
houses of Convocation and of both provinces.'* 

* Cardwell, Conferences 371, 372. he was made profeffor of Mathematics. 
The calendar was reconstructed by John In 1652 he returned to England. In 
Pell, assisted by Sancroft, afterwards 1654 he was sent by Cromwell as his 
Archbishop of Canterbury. Pell was envoy to the protestant cantons of Switz- 
now rector of Fobbing, to which living erland 5 and, in 1658, he returned to 
he had been instituted June 19 of this England a second time. After the re- 
year, on the presentation of the King. storation, he was ordained by Saunderson, 
N. ii. 269. He was a SufTex man, and Bishop of Lincoln, when he was presented 
educated in Trinity College, Cambridge. to Fobbing. In July, 1663, Sheldon 
In 1643 ne went to Amsterdam, where presented him to the rectory of Laingdon 



33° Corporation Act, 

The Parliament showed no less alacrity than the Convo- 
cation. Eight days after it assembled, the House of Commons 
ordered all their members to take a sacrament according to the 
liturgy, on pain of expulsion. On the 20th of May, they ordered 
c that the Solemn League and Covenant ' should be burned by 
the hand of the common hangman. By the 29th of June, they 
had fallen on the consideration of a bill for the c Uniformity of 
Public Prayers and Administration of the Sacraments ; ' by the 
3rd of July the bill was committed, by the 9th it was read a third 
time and passed; and by the 10th of July it had been sent up 
to the House of Lords, accompanied by Elizabeth's Book of 
Common Prayer. On the 30th of July the Parliament ad- 
journed. It re-assembled on the 20th of November. Imme- 
diately before its adjournment for the Christmas holidays, an 
A£f. was passed, c for the well governing and regulating of cor- 
porations,' which rendered it imperative on all mayors and 
others bearing office in any corporation, on penalty of immediate 
removal or displacement, to take the oaths of ' allegiance and 
supremacy;' this oath following: c I, A. B., do declare and 
believe that it is not lawful, upon any pretence whatsoever, to 
take up arms against the King; and that I do abhor that 
traitorous position of taking arms by his authority against his 
person or those that are commissioned by him ;' and also to pub- 
licly subscribe this c declaration,' c I, A. B., do declare, that I 
hold that there lies no obligation upon me, or any other person, 
from the oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant; 
and that the same was in itself an unlawful oath, and imposed 
upon the subjects of this realm against the known laws and 
liberties of the kingdom/ The Act also authorized the appoint- 
ment of Commissioners to visit the different corporations and 
adminifter the oath, and to witness the subscription. When 

cum Basildon. N. ii. 357. In August, more than once, he died at the house o 

Sheldon became Archbifhop of Canter- one Mr. Cothorne, a reader in the church 

bury, and then made Pell one of his of St. Giles in the Fields, and was buried 

chaplains. Notwithstanding his promo- at Westminster, by the charity of Dr. 

tions, he fell into great obscurity, and Busby. Wood, Fasti, i. 254. 
having been cast into prison for debt 



Colchester. 331 

those who were elected to visit Colchefter arrived there for that 
purpose, John Millbank, the then mayor, refused to comply 
with the A£t, and c would by no means be drawn to subscribe, 
and resigned the seal and mace.' Three of the aldermen did 
the same. * 

Parliament re-assembled on the 10th of January, and by the 
19th of April, the Act of Uniformity had received the royal 
assent. On that occasion, Turner, the speaker, addressed the 
King in an elaborate speech, in the course of which, referring 
to the Act of Uniformity, he thus expressed himself: 'Great 
sir, we know the stronger!: building muft fall if the coupling 
pins be pulled out, therefore our care hath been to prepare such 
constitutions that the prerogative of the crown and the propriety 
of the people may, like squared stones in a well built arch, 
each support the other, and grow the closer and stronger for 
any might or force that shall be laid upon them. We cannot 
forget the late disputing age wherein moft persons took a liberty, 
and some men made it their delight, to trample upon the dis- 
cipline and government of the church. The hedge being trod 
down, the foxes and wolves did enter : the swine and other 
unclean beafts defiled the temple. At length it was discerned 
the Smedtymnian plot did not only bend itself to reform cere- 
monies, but sought to erect a popular authority of elders, and to 
root out Episcopal jurisdiction. In order to this work, church 
ornaments were first taken away ; then the means whereby 
distinction or inequality might be upheld amongst ecclesialtical 
governors ; then the forms of common prayer which, as mem- 
bers of the public body of Christ's church, were enjoined us, 
were decried as superstitious, and in lieu thereof nothing or 
worse than nothing introduced. Your Majefty having already 
reftored the governors and government of the church, the 
patrimony and privilege of our churchmen, we hold it now 
our duty, for the reformation of all abuses in the public worship 

* 13 Charles II., I, 4, 5, 6, 7. 'The Milbank, died Nov. 21, 1666, and is 
Kingdom's Intelligencer/ No. 33, Aug. buried in the chancel of St. Peter's 
16 — 18, 1662. Mary, the wife of John church. Mor. Col. Ap. 20. 



332 Act of Uniformity. 

of God, humbly to present unto your Majefty a bill for the 
Uniformity of Public Prayers and Adminiftntion of the Sacra- 
ments.' Turner thus concluded : c And now, great sir, after 
these many months most painful and faithful service of your 
Majefty and our countries, we hope we shall have leave to go 
home to visit our relations, to tell our neighbours what great 
things your Majesty hath done for us ; what great things 
(absit invidia verbo) we have done for your Alajefty ; and what 
great things God hath done for all.' * 

It was now the law of the land c That every parson, vicar, 
or other minifter whatsoever, who now hath or enjoyeth any 
ecclesiaftical benefice or promotion within this realm of 
England, shall, in the church, chapel, or place of worfhip 
belonging to the said benefice or promotion, upon some Lord's 
day, before the feast of St. Bartholomew's, which shall be in 
the year of our Lord God 1662, openly, publicly, and 
solemnly read the morning and evening prayer appointed to 
be read by and according to the Book of Common Prayer; 
and after such reading thereof, shall openly and publicly, 
before the congregation then assembled, declare his unfeigned 
assent and consent to the use of all things in the said book 
contained and prescribed in these words, and no others : 
c i, a. b., do here declare my unfeigned assent and 
consent to all and everything contained and pre- 
scribed in and by the book, intituled, the book of 
Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacra- 
ments AND OTHER RITES AND CEREMONIES OF THE CHURCH 
ACCORDING TO THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 
TOGETHER WITH THE PsALTER OR PsALMS OF DAVID, AP- 
POINTED AS THEY ARE TO BE SAID OR SUNG IN CHURCHES; 
AND THE FORM OR MANNER OF MAKING, ORDAINING, AND 
CONSECRATING OF BlSHOPS, pRIESTS, AND DEACONS.' And 

that every such person who shall neglect or refuse to do the 



* Pari. Hist. iv. 245. Turner was ment, on the south side of the church, to 
buried in the church of Little Parndon, his memory, 
where there is a handsome marble monu- 



Act ofZJn if or mi ty . 333 

same within the time aforesaid, shall, ipso faclo, be deprived of 
all his spiritual promotions, and that from thenceforth it shall 
be lawful for all patrons or donors of the same to present or 
collate to the same as though the persons so offending or 
neglecting were dead.' And also that c from and after the feaft 
of St. Bartholomew's, which shall be in the year of our Lord 
1662, no person who is now incumbent or parson of any par- 
sonage, vicarage, or benefice, and is not already in holy orders 
by Episcopal ordination, or shall not before the said day be 
ordained priest or deacon according to the form of Episcopal 
ordination, shall have, hold, or occupy, the said benefice ; 
but shall be utterly disabled and, ipso faclo, deprived of the 
same, and his ecclefiaftical benefice shall be void, as if he 
were actually dead.' 

As the altered Book of Common Prayer was not published 
until eight days before the Act thus passed came into operation, 
it was impossible that the book could have been so much 
as seen by multitudes of men who were required to subscribe 
to it; but notwithftanding this, the Act was stringently 
enforced, and to the honour of England and the then church, 
some hundreds, rather than defile their consciences by falsehood, 
or profane their sacred office by unfaithfulness, joyfully accepted 
the alternative, all of them of social obloquy and personal suf- 
fering, and many also of extreme privation and even want for 
life. * 

The triumph of the prelatifls was only not complete. What 
with those who had been ejected under the Act of 1660, and 
the greater number who were either silenced or ejected now, 



* * Kidder, afterwards Dean of Peter- to that part of the country where he lived 

borough, and ultimately Bishop of Bath by the time appointed. He used all pos- 

and Wells, was deprived of his vicarage of sible means, but was not able to obtain 

Stanground, in Huntingdonshire, by the the sight of a copy until too late. Rather, 

Act 5 not that he, though born of a dis- therefore, than make a declaration of 

senting family, had any objection to Epis- faith, in ignorance of what it really was, 

copacy and a liturgy, but because the he resigned his vicarage.' Life of Bishop 

Book of Prayer had not been forwarded Ken, by a Layman ii. 60 1. 



334 -^ ct of Uniformity . 

but few of their antagonists remained. The sufferers from 
these proceedings have been variously computed. Calamy 
mentions 2,188; Palmer gives a list of 2,196; but Cotton 
Mather says that they amounted to c near five and twenty 
hundred,' adding, that, as the result of these and the severities 
that followed, 'it is affirmed by a modest calculation, that (the) 
persecution procured the untimely death of 3,000 Noncon- 
forming, and the ruin of 60,000 families, within five and twenty 
years.' A contemporary, writing to John Davenport, at Boston, 
New England, under date March, 1662-3, savs : ' Multitudes 
of ministers have been ejected .... since the execution of 
y e said Act. I heare about 1,500 or 1,600 .... besides neare 
as many before .... and very unworthy and unable wofull men 
succeeding in their roomes .... if y e ability of y e ejected, 
and y e ignorance and scandalous lives of y e successors were 
expressed, (for y e farre greater part of them) I thinke that y e like 

hath scarce beene ever heard Great and strict search 

there hath bin .... to find out private meetings 

Multitudes have bin surprized, and forthwith carryed to prisons. 
.... Many have dyed in imprisonment, and bin even stifled 
through thronging together and want of ayre The pro- 
secution of this Act was very fierce about October and 
November last, and cruell handling was mett with .... 
Great prosecutions in the counties farr and neare, and very 
many indited at assizes and sessions, and many excommuni- 
cated by the bifhops.'"* 

It was a fearful time of trial — second only, in severity, 
to the reign of Mary. ' But strong in the Lord, and in the 
power of His might,' the sufferers were c faithful even unto 
death,' and great was their reward. Without the pale of 
the eftablimment, the Nonconforming soon escaped a world 
of prejudices which had painfully entangled them before, and 
mingling now with others, who, throughout the struggle 
in which they had thus been worsted, had displayed a heroism 
even greater than their own, they bore no humble part in 

* S. P. O. MSS. Dom. Ser. Ch. II. lxix. 5. 



Jet of Uniformity. 335 

rearing up that noble edifice of religious liberty which has 
since become the glory and the bulwark of their country, and 
the hope and admiration of the world. 



' We have need of them 
Clear beacon stars, to warn and guide our age j 
The great traditions of a nation's life, 
Her children's luftrous deeds, with honour rife, 
Are her most precious jewels, noblest heritage, 
Time-polifht jewels in her diadem.' 



^art ii. 
MEMORIALS 



R R 



CHAPTER I. 



MINISTERS SILENCED OR EJECTED IN THE 
COUNTY OF ESSEX. 



Abrey, or Aldbury, or Aldborough Hatch. — Edward 
Keightley. The place is situated near Clay Hall, in the 
parifh of Barking, and is above three miles diftant from the 
church. In 1653, 'divers inhabitants of the parifh ' petitioned 
Parliament to assist them in erecting a chapel for their con- 
venience. The petition was referred to a committee, and on 
the 9th of September, in that year, the committee reported 
as their ' humble opinion,' that c one acre of ground, in some 
convenient place near the petitioners' dwellings should be 
assigned within the forest of Waltham, whereon to build a 
house for a meeting place, and that twenty timber trees should 
be also set out of the forest towards the building.' The 
report was adopted, and it was ordered that Col. Matthews 
and Mr. Brewfter do see the said ground and trees set out 
accordingly. It should appear that Keightley was appointed 
as the minifter of this chapel when it was completed. I am 
informed that it stood on an enclosure opposite the May 
Pole Inn, at Barking-side. At the restoration, and after 
Keightley was silenced there, a dispute arose between the 
Bifhop of London and Sir Thomas Fanshawe, the lord of 
the manor, about the right of presentation, in consequence 
of which the building was allowed to fall into decay. 

b b 2 



340 Edward Keightley. 

Edward Keightley was a native of Grays, where his family 
had long resided. The Keightleys were connected by mar- 
riage with the family of John Donne, so well known by his 
noble sermons, and the admirable memoir of him publifhed 
by Isaak Walton. It is not unlikely that Edward was presented 
to the chapelry of Aldborough by his father, as his mother was 
possessed of the eftate on which it stood at her death, in 1688. 

After his ejection Keightley continued to reside at Ald- 
borough Hatch, and to preach there ' in his own house.' March 
15, 1 67 1-2, Charles issued a ' declaration to all his loving sub- 
jects,' in which, after protefling 'his express resolution .... 
to be, that the Church of England be preserved and remain 
entire,' .... he proceeded to say, ' that there may be no 
pretence for any of our subjects to continue their illegal 
meetings and conventicles, we do declare that we shall .... 
allow a sufficient number of places .... in all parts of this 
our kingdom, for the use of such as do not conform to the 
Church of England .... But to prevent such disorders 

... as may happen by this our indulgence .... our 
express will .... is, that none of our subjects do meet in 
any place until such place be allowed, and the teacher of the 
congregation be approved by us.' The House of Commons 
strongly objected to this declaration, and addressed the King 
on the subject, saying, ' We find ourselves bound in duty to 
inform your Majefty that penal statutes in matters ecclesiastical 
cannot be suspended but by act of Parliament.' On the 7th 
of March, 1672-3, the declaration therefore was withdrawn. 
In the meantime, however, some three thousand licenses had 
been taken out. Keightley was among the number of those 
who availed themselves of the indulgence. May 2, he took 
out a license c to be a Prefbyterian teacher in his house, at 
Abrey Hatch,' and on the same day, another for ' his house ' 
there c to be a Prefbyterian meeting place,' and July 16, two 
other licenses for his house at Barking. Calamy says he also 
preached at Billericay. Keightley was buried at Barking, 
July 3, 1 70 1. The parish regifter also records the baptism of 
his daughter, Hannah, in July 1669, and of John, 'his sonne,' 



Samuel Brinsley. 341 

June 21, 1670 ; and the burials of Isabella, his mother, March 
16, 1668, and Hannah, his wife, in 1675. * 

Alphamstone. — Samuel Brinsley. The rectory of Al- 
phamstone had been sequeftered from Rowland Steward, who 
was instituted February 3, 16 13. Depositions were taken 
againft him at Halsted, March 22, 1643, when three witnesses 
gave evidence that c he was a common swearer ;' four, to c his 
being violent in his opposition to the Parliament,' as appears 
by his preaching against the Conilitution, saying, C I do not like 
it for it makes the breach the larger,' and also by his neglecting 
to pray for the army, and his blaming one of his neighbours 
for letting his sonne go for a volunteer, and when some of them 
were killed he said to one of his neighbours, c I told you what 
would come of it ;' two, to his having c neglected and slighted 
the keeping of the fafts ;' four, to his being a c constant fre- 
quenter of the company of Papists and other lewd persons, at 
innes, their houses, and also at his owne ;' four, to his being 
1 a notorious common gamefter at dice and cards ;' three, to 
his having been c an excessive drinker, urging others thereto by 
drinking healths, and that on his knees boafting he had drunk 
twenty times in one hour;' two, to his having 'played at bat 
and trap with boys of his parish on the Sabbath, and being a 
constant looker-on at them that played thereat, teaching his 
children therein that day ;' three, to his having c brayed that 
he hath .... and this he hath spoken before his wife ;' and 
three, to his having been c always negligent in his function.' 
Steward's immediate successor was John Collinges, afterwards 
of Norwich. In 1650 the return for Alphamstone is, 'Wil- 
liam Smith, by sequeftration from Rowland Steward, an able 
preaching minifter.' 

* Cal. Ace. i. 314; Mor. i. 7 j Jour. Pari. Hist. iv. 515 — 561 ; S. P. O. 

House of Lords viii. 315, 3165 Lyson's MSS. Entry Book xxxviii. Charles II., 

Environs iv. 105. Lyson gives as his clxxxv. — vi. His name is here spelt 

authority for the circumstances under * Kitley.' Notes and Queries, Nov. 1, 

which the chapel ceased to be used at the 1862. For the information about the 

restoration Mr. Holman'sMSS. Matthews, Keightley family I am indebted to Edward 

of Romford, ante; Brewster, of Withfield, Sage, Esq., of Stoke Newington. 
ante; Card well, Doc. Ann. ii. 333; 



34 2 Samuel Br ins ley , Richard Pepps. 

Brinsley was a native of Middlesex, and was admitted fellow 
of Jesiis College, Cambridge, April 17, 1647. I have not 
been able to recover the date of his admission to Alphamstone, 
nor that of his avoidance. From the date of the entry of the 
institution of Jeremiah Fish, it appears that Steward died 
before the restoration. The inference would therefore be that 
Brinsley was regularly presented by the patron, and that his 
ejection took place August 24, 1662. After he left Essex 
Brinsley preached about London, and died about the year 1695."* 

Arkesden. — Richard Pepps. The vicarage had been se- 
queftered from George Beardstall. Walker says that he was 
sequestered by the Earl of Manchester's committee in 1646, 
but it was some time before this. October 23, 1645, 
Beardstall complained to the Committee for Plundered Minis- 
ters, that c he had been illegally sequestered by the Earl of 
Manchester's committee, as he had satisfactorily answered 
all the charges that had been alleged against him.' They 
immediately sent to the Earl of Manchester for minutes of 
all his proceedings, and on the 17th of January following, 
1645-6, they had transmitted the case for examination to the 
committee of the association sitting at Cambridge, from which 
it would appear, that the charges brought against Beardstall 
chiefly related to political delinquencies. His case was again 
before them on the 7th and 21st of March, and also on the 
1 2th of May, and shortly afterwards the sequeftration was 
confirmed. On the 12th of April, 1646, the committee 
ordered that the living should stand sequeftered ' to the use of 
Samuel Ball, minifter of the word.' But in July it was re- 
ported to the committee that Beardstall still refused to give 
his successor possession, and the next week afterwards he was 
ordered to be apprehended for contempt. How long Ball 
continued, or indeed whether he actually obtained possession 
or not, I have not been able to ascertain. 

Pepps was a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. 



* Cal. Ace. 309 5 Cole MSS. xxviii. cation. Lands. MSS. 459 ; Baker, MSS. 
10, 11. The omission is unfit for publi- notes to Calamy. 



'John Fisher, Christopher Wragg. 343 

He is reported in 1650, as c Rob. Peapes (sic), a preaching 
minifter.' The admiffion of his successor is given as c per 
depr. Pepps.'* 

Ashingdon — jfohn Fisher. He succeeded Samuel Keeble 
who was here in 1650, and is reported c an honeft and painful 
minister.' It appears from the parish register that, c Edmund, 
the son of John Fisher, rector, and Milcah, his wife, was born 
August 28, and was baptized the 9th of September, 1655;' 
that ' James, their son, was born on St. James' day, and 
baptized 14th August, 1657;' and that 'James died 23rd of 
October following.' Fisher's successor writes this charac- 
teristic article in the register : — 

* What more ? Vow, Covenant, and Protestation, 
All to maintain the Church and English nation ; 
A threefold cord sure is not easilie broaken, 
For so the Wiseman hath divinelie spoaken. 
But all in vaine ; men's hearts with ... .are fraught, 
Great ones break through ; small fishes they are caught. 
Three nations thus are twisted all in one, 
Three nations thus three times, thrice undone.' 

In the minutes of the Archidiaconal Visitation, in 1662, there 
is this entry : 'Johannes Fisher, ostendit ord(ines) ; vacat. rat. 
statuti.' t 

Great Baddow — Chriftopher Wragg. He was admitted 
to this living 14th September, 1642, on the presentation of 
John Pascall. He was of Jesus College, Cambridge, where he 
took a degree in 1636. His name appears among the subscribers 
to the Essex Testimony in 1648. He was ejected by the Act 
of Uniformity. Calamy says, c he was a man of note, ability, 
and acceptance.' After the ejectment he went to reside at 
Margaret ing. On the declaration of indulgence, he took out a 
license to be a Presbyterian teacher ' in the house of Mr. 

* Walker ii. 190 ; Add. MSS. 15670, extracts from the parish regifter I am 

13, 69, 88 j Cal. Ace. 307 ; Lands. indebted to the courtesy of the Rev. S. 

MSS. 459 j N. ii. 14. Nottidge, the present rector. Keeble, 

f Cal. Ace. 311. The parish is p. ante, 
wrongly given as Asheldon. For the 



344 Thomas Gllson. 

Harris,' there, c or in any other allowed place.' This was 
May 9, 1672 \ also a license for that house to be ' a Presbyterian 
meeting place.' On the same day he also took out a license for 
' his own house,' at Little Waltham, c to be a Presbyterian 
meeting house.' f 

Little Baddow — Thomas Gllson. He was a native of 
Sudbury, and was educated first, in the Free School at Dedham, 
and afterwards at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, whence he 
removed to Oxford. At Oxford he became fellow of Corpus 
Chrifci. He muff, have come to Baddow after 1650, as the 
return in that year is, c No minifter there, but the parishioners 
can get some of the neighbouring ministers.' In the minutes 
of the Archidiaconal Visitation of 1662, there is this entry: 
c Gilson, vicar \ vacat. rat. stat.' In 1664 a measure was enacted, 
entituled c An Acl: to prevent and suppress Seditious Conven- 
ticles,' which provided, that if c any person, above the age of 
sixteen years, shall be present at any assembly .... under 
colour of any exercise of religion, in any other manner than is 
allowed by the liturgy and practice of the Church of England, 
there being five or more persons than the household ; then it 
shall be lawful for any two Juftices of the Peace .... 
either by the confession of the party, or the oath of witness, 
or notorious evidence of the fact, to make record of such 
offence, .... which record shall .... be taken in law to 
be a full and perfect conviction. . . . Thereupon, the Juftices 
shall commit any such offender .... to jail, there to remain 
for a space of time not exceeding three months, or pay a sum 
of money not exceeding five pounds ; for the second offence, 
he shall be imprisoned six months, or pay ten pounds ; and for 
the third offence, every such offender shall be transported to 
any of His Majefty's plantations for seven years.' And in 1670 
this was followed by a still severer measure, bearing the same 
title. Preparatory to the enforcement of this last measure, in 
the course of the year 1669, returns of c preachers and con- 



f Cal. Ace. ; Entry Book, S. P. O. ; Baker, MSS. Add. to Cal. ; Declaration 
of Indulgence, p. 340. 



Thomas Gilson. 345 

venticles ' were obtained by Archbishop Sheldon from all the 
bishops of his province. It appears from the correspondence 
on the subject., a part of which is preserved among the Sheldon 
letters in the British Museum, that the bishops were at first 
somewhat reluctant. Sheldon had to write to them, saying : ' I 
thought your lordshipp would, at first sight, have conceived it a 
business of that importance, that without the least delay you 
would have gone through with it ... . but having received 
(no reply) or not a full and satisfactory one, I send this to 
quicken you, desiring and expecting from your lordship, as 
soon as is possible after the receipt of this, as full and exact an 
account .... as by the best of your diligence .... you 
can make.' The returns which were thus secured, are evidently 
anything but complete; but such as they were are now pre- 
served among the Lambeth MSS. 639. * In these returns, 
Gilson is reported as having c a conventicle at Brentwood, in 
connection with Willis.' f 

There are three entries relating to Gilson in the License 
Book of 1672 : two under date of May 2, the one of which 
records a license granted to his house in Brentwood to be a 
' Presbyterian meeting house,' and the other to himself to be a 

* HarleianMSS. 1377. Plut. H. lxiv. at Haslemere, in Surrey/in which he says, 

Four years before this, Sheldon had iffued ' . . . . little good there is to be done 

'orders and instructions ' to 'all ye bifhops by juryes and ye troublesome way of in- 

of his province,' that * every of them par- ditement So that unlesse the 

ticularly certifie the names, surnames, and Parliament when they meet will give us 

degrees of all Nonconformist ministers better remedyes, we muste, I think, give 

.... that have been ejected .... and up the cudgell, for who, upon such un- 

when, and how, and in what profession certaintyes as we are put, will goe about 

of life they do now live, and how they to trouble themselves in the matter. In 

behave themselves .... July 7, 1665.' the mean time, we must doe what we can 

Lands. MSS. 846, No. 4. The returns to redress ourselves sagely, and what we 

thus obtained were also among the MSS. cannot help we must bear with patience 

in Lambeth Library. Calamy, Baxter's and hope better.' 

Life and Times, 313. I have not, how- f See John Willis, Ingateftone, and 

ever, been able to find them there. There John Oakes, Boreham. Infra, Cal Ace. 

is another characteristic letter of Sheldon's 305 j Cant. 471 j 16 Car. ii. c. 14} 22 

among the Had. MSS. 1377, written by Car. ii. c. 1. Daniel Gilson, of Col- 

him Aug. 16, 1669: 'For my worthy chefter, was the son of Thomas. License 

friend, James Grefliam, Esq., at his house Book, 1672, p. 340. 



346 Thomas Gilson ^ John Beadle. 

1 Presbyterian teacher in his own house ;' and a third, under 
date of 1 6th July, of a license granted him to be a' general 
Presbyterian teacher in anv allowed place.' He left Brentwood 
to become pallor of a congregation assembling in Radcliff, 
London. Gilson died in 1680, at the age of 50. His funeral 
sermon was preached bv Samuel Slater, of Crofby Square, 
Bifhopsgate Street, on the 6th May in that year. The 
sermon was afterwards publifhed. Slater says of Gilson : 
' Your deceased pallor said, on his death bed, when others 
live to sixtv or seventy years before they have done what 
they are called to do, if I can despatch mine in fifty, I have 
no cause to complain. After five and thirty years know- 
ledge of him, I dare say, he was an Israelite indeed. He 
was excellently furnished for the miniftrv, having choice 
natural parts, and great acquired abilities. God had given him 
the head and tongue of the learned. Wheresoever he came and 
laboured, solid and judicious Chriitians rejoiced in his light.' 
Barxston — John Beadle. He was of the University of 
Cambridge, where he matriculated July 8, 16 13. He was 
first rector of Little Leighs, in which capacity he signed a 
petition to Laud in favour of Thomas Hooker. He succeeded 
to the rectory of Barnfton in May, 1632, on the resignation of 
William Wright. The following letter, relating to his appoint- 
ment, is not without intereit. It is addressed to Laud, then 
Bifhop of London : c My good lord, I am come with a kinsman 
of mine to vour lordmip, whom I humbly desire mav be 
admitted into the rectory of Barnditon, which mv lord (Robert, 
Earl of Warwick) offered me. But I denre vour honour, when 
we come before vou, to let him know that you expect from me 
some account upon what terms I am settled at Bravntree. I 
also humbly pray vour lordship to give me charge, in his 
presence,, to prevent and suppress to the utmoit of mv power 
all conventicles of both sexes in mv parish, and to be careful to 
keep all my people, of what quality soever, to conformity in 
receiving the sacrament. And withall, to intimate that vour 
lordfhip hath so watchful an eye over us in Bravntree, as that 
few things can be spoken of or done but they come to your 



"John Beadle. 347 

lordfhip's eare. These things spoken at this present, will both 
settle this young man in the conformable way wherein he now 
is, and may procure me much peace. — Samuel Collins.' 
Collins' expectations of the effect of the Episcopal admo- 
nition were doomed to disappointment, however, as in Laud's 
account for his province for 1633, there is the following entry : 
c I did likewise convent Mr. John Beedle, rector of Barnftone, 
in Effex, for omitting some part of the divine service and 
refusing conformity. But upon his submiffion and promise of 
reformation, I dismissed him with a canonical admonition.' It 
is poffible also, that the following entry in Laud's account of 
his province for 1638, refers to Beadle : ' There was one B., 
a minister of Effex, came into this diocese (Canterbury), and at 
Harbledown, near Canterbury, the curate then being dead, 
preached very disorderly three hours together at a time, and 
got himself many ignorant followers. But so soon as he was 
enquired of by my officers, he fled the country, and I purpose, 
God willing, to speak with the Chancellor of London con- 
cerning him.' There is also another contemporaneous reference 
to Beadle, In Arthur Wilson's Autobiography, which is 
published in Peck's c Defiderata Curiosa,' there is this entry, 
under date July 21, 1644: 'Mr. Beedle, of Barnftone, 
preached at Leez. His text was Numb, xxiii. 1 — insifting 
upon this, that every Chriftian ought to keep a record of his 
own actions and ways. This made me run back to the 
beginning of my life, affifted by my memories and some small 
notes, wherein I have given a true, though a meare delineation 
of eight and forty years progress in the world.' Beadle was 
one of the Classis for the county. He also signed the c Effex 
Teftimony.' In 1650, he is returned as c an able preacher.' 
He publifhed c The Journal or Diary of a Thankful Chriftian.' 
Lond. 1656. It was dedicated to c Robert, Earl of Warwick, 
and Eleanor, his moft pious and virtuous consort.' He speaks 
of the earl as c his most noble patron, qui curat oves oviumque 
magiftros, a true friend to the church of God and the minifters 
of it ;' and of the countess as his c most bountifull benefactor.' 
John Fuller, afterwards ejected from Ironmonger Lane, wrote 



348 J°hn Beadle^ Edward Thomas. 

a commendatory preface to this little book, in which he says, 
concerning the author, ' mv knowledge hath been above twenty 
years' standing. We were of an intimate society and vicinity 

for many years, we took sweet counsel together, and walked 
into the house of God in company. He was my guide and my 

acquaintance We oft breathed and poured out our 

souls together in prayer, failing, and conferences at 

which time he had the happinesse .... to be watered by the 
droppings of that great Elijah .... Reverend Air. Thomas 
Hooker, and hath ever since the blessing and favour of much 

of his spirit refting on him 

As for this author's painfulnesse and faithfulnesse, it's well 
known to all that knew him how greatly they showed forth in 
him whilst in a very small place (Leighs r), and how, since 
advanced by the bounty of his truly noble and honorable patron 
to a higher, and but necessary subsistence, thev had continued 
and increased. In catechizing, preaching on the Lord's daves 
and working daves, holding up the use of those soul feasting 
sacraments even unto these our daves, wherein these wels have 
been either stopt up, or lesse drawn at ; these choice dishes, 
either set off the table quite, or seldom fed on, to the leannesse 
of many souls.' * 

Belchamp Oten. — Edward TJio??ias. The rectory had 
been sequeltered from Joseph Bird, who was admitted May 
21, 1633. Articles were exhibited against him May 10, 
1644, when one witness deposed on oath, that ; having been 
Mr. Bird's servant at two several times, a year, and three 



# P. 154. Collins, p. 150. Baker's Earl of Warwick. He died at Felsted in 

MSS. Notes on Calamy, Cal. Ace. Oct., 1652, and was buried in the chancel 

301 ; N. ii. 388, 38 ; MSS. S.P.O., of the church there. Peck says that he 

Lands. Tryals and Troubles ; Peck ii. left £5 with which to distribute bread to 

465, 483 ; Lands. MSS 459. Wilson the poor of Felsted for ever. He was 

was a native of Norfolk, and born 1599. the author of, (1) Some Comedies; (2) 

He was a Gent. Com. of Trinity Hall, The History of Great Britain, being the 

Oxford, in 1 63 1. He entered the sendee Life and Reign of James I. Lond., 

of Robert, Earl of Essex, with whom he 1653, fol. Wood, Ath. ii. 155. This 

travelled in Germany, France, and Spain. is reprinted in Bishop Kennet's complete 

He subsequently became steward to Robert, Hiftory of England. 



Edward Thomas. 349 

years, she hath often seen him diftempered with beere in his 
own house, and sometimes sitting up drinking on the Sabbath 
till twelve o'clock at night, and at one time he was so unquiett 
for beere that his wife and this deponent fetched a barrel of 
beere and set it in the chimney-corner by him to drink what 
he pleased ;' two, that c he was an excessive drinker, and often 
so diftempered that he is unfit for his calling ;' five, that upon 
Easter Monday, being at Sudbury, he was so distempered with 
drink, that he behaved himself disorderly, disquieting the 
people at ten at night, and in these diftempers was taken up 
by the conftable and the watch, and carried before the Mayor, 
notwithstanding there was a sacrament adminiftered by him 
the day before ;' two, that 'he was a common swearer;' three, 
to his ' absence from his cure for three or four Sabbaths 
together, without providing a subftitute, or else scandalous 
and ill-afFected men, many of whom were now juftly seques- 
tered for their malignity, viz., Mr. Alsop, Mr. Fforbench, 
and Mr. Auftin ;' and two, that they c heard him say, above a 
yeare ago, that the Parliament was guilty of all the innocent 
blood that hath been shedd, and that it would be required at 
their hands, and that they kept backe the King's right.' 
Further depositions were taken against Bird, October to, 
when another witness gave evidence that 'he was an excessive 
drinker,' that ' she hath seen him above twenty times drunke,' 
and ' that about two years since, coming to her house, he did 
drink of her beere against her will, (so) that he was not able 
to open the cover of the tankard, nor put it to his mouth 
without spilling most of the beere in it on his clothes, and 
it is his usual manner, when he was drunk, to fall on railing 
of his neighbours, and one time on her daughter, calling 
her baggaige and bare baggaige, because she would give him 
no more strong beere, being about twelve at night ;' and 
another, that ' somewhat above a yeare since, she saw Mr. 
Bird in Ballingdon, nie Sudbury, being about three miles from 
his parish, upon a Saturday night, between eleven and twelve 
at night, so drunk that he could not go right in the way, but 
was fayne to grope after the wall and to leane on the house, 



350 Edward Thomas , Thomas Beard. 

and there she left him standing.' In the meantime Bird had 
returned his answers, and now he further sought to invalidate 
the testimony of the first witness by bringing a fearful charge 
against her, of which he alleged that she had been convicted 
before Oliver Raymond. On the ist of January following, 
Raymond sends into the committee an affidavit, in which he 
says : ' I doe utterly deny that any such conviction was ever 
before me.' And at the same date there is an c atteftation ' 
entered, bearing the signature of Isaac Wymoll, ' This of my 
own knowledge I can witness, that the said Mi*. Bird was 
once or twice much disguised with beere at Castle Hedingham, 
so that he was scarce able to speak common sense, and uttering 
such words to me, who was a mere stranger to him, c O thou 
man of God, take up the business between me and my neigh- 
bours touching the tythe calfe, for I know thou hast the 
spirit of God in thee ; I will stand in thy judgment whatever 
it be.' 

Who immediately succeeded to the sequeftration does not 
appear. Thomas, however, was there in 1648, as his name 
appears among the subscribers to the Essex Teftimony at that 
date. In 1650, he is reported as an 'able preaching minifter.' 
Bird appears to have recovered his living at the reftoration, and 
Thomas to have been ejected under the act of 1660. * 

Bentley, Great. — Thomas Beard. He may possibly have 
been a son of Thomas Beard, of whom we have a memoir in 
Brooks' Lives ii. 396. His first settlement in Essex was at 
West Mersea, the vicarage of which parish had been seques- 
tered from John Woolhouse, c for that he is a common and 
excessive tipler and drinker, both at home and abroad ; a 
common ale-house haunter and drunkard, and on the Lord's 
day going from the church to the ale-house in the forenoon, 
and continuing tipling there till the afternoon service, and 
useth to entice and provoke others to joyne in the same excesse 

* Cal. Ace. 313; Cole MSS. xxviii. was of Twinsted. He was buried with 

32, 33, 34, 61, 62 ; Alsop and Forbench, the Waldgraves, his wife's relations, at 

see Sequestrations; Raymond, ante; Bures, Aug. 6, 1680. Mor. ii. 271. 
Lands. MSS. 459 ; N. ii. 43. Wincoll 



Thomas Beard^ Isaac Grandorge. 351 

with him, even to drunkennesse ; and is a common dicer and 
gamefter for money, inticing his tipling companions thereunto ; 
and is a common curser and swearer, and hath tempted women 
to incontinency ; and hath expressed great malignancy against 
the Parliament.' From several entries in the minutes of the 
Committee for Plundered Minifters, it appears that after his 
removal Mrs. Woolhouse had considerable trouble with the 
sequeftrators about her fifths, and that the dispute was not 
finally settled in June, 1647. Walker says that one 'Walter 
Okeley got the living in 1654, who could not so much as 
write ! ' 

Beard became vicar of Great Bentley on the resignation of 
John Hubbert. The entry of his appointment bears date 
March 7, 1645. The vicarage had been sequestered from 
Nicholas Lewes, c for that he hath been often drunke and 
useth to sit tipling in ale-houses seven or eight houres together, 
even on the Lord's dayes ; and affirmed that he hoped to see them 
all hanged that had set their hands against bijhops and papifts ; 
and by his example the people spend the greatest part of the 
Lord's day in pastimes and drinking at the ale-house ; and hath 
expressed great malignancy against the Parliament.' Walker 
says, that Beard got the living in 1654. Beard was buried at 
Great Bentley, August 12, 1662. * 

Birdbrook. — Isaac Grandorge. Walker, on the authority 
of Calamy's first edition, says that there was a sequestration 
here, and as Grandorge was ejected in 1660, such would 
appear to be the fact. John Gent appears as c minister ' among 
the subscribers to the Essex Testimony in 1648, and was still 
there in 1650, when he is reported as 'an able preaching 
minister.' The present rector of the parish tells me that 
John Thompson was presented to the living in 1651, and as 
he must have been the sequestrated rector, he would be 

* Cal. Ace. 3095 Woolhouse, First 69, 71; Walker ii. 293. The date of 

Century, 95 ; Add. MSS. 15670, 105, Beard's death I have from the parish 

361 j 15671 j May 17, 1647, 71, 745 regifter, which the Rev. J. Crofts, the 

Walker ii. 397 j Lewes, Firft Century, present rector, courteously allowed me to 

51; Add. MSS. 15660 } Jan. 30,1644, search. Hubbert Infra. 



352 John Oakes. 

sequestered by the so-called ' Triers.' Calamy says that 
Grandorge was c some time fellow of St. John's, Cambridge, 
an excellent man, and a great scholar.' He also adds, that after 
his ejectment he lived at Black Notley. * 

Boreham — John Oakes. On the death of Henry Vesey, 
the House of Lords (October 24, 1648) ifTued an order for the 
induction of Thomas Attwood Rotherham, M.A., to the 
vacancy. Rotherham was still vicar in 1650. The Rev. C. 
Way, the present vicar, obligingly informs me that Rotherham 
died and was buried at Luton, in Hertfordfhire, in 1657, a ^ so 
that Oakes succeeded him. He further informs me, from the 
parish regifters, that Oakes married Mary Tendring, April 25, 
1659 » tnat tne y h ac ^ two sons an d a daughter born before 
March 26, 1662, the two former of whom died infants, and 
that the last entry to which John Oakes' signature is affixed is 
on September 2, 1662. After his ejectment, Oakes removed 
to the neighbouring parish of Little Baddow, May 9, 1672. 
He took out a license to be a Prefbyterian teacher i in his own 
house ' in Little Baddow, and another for his house ' to be a 
Prefbyterian meeting place.' In 1678, he removed to London, 
where he succeeded Thomas Vincent, the ejected rector of St. 
Mary Magdalen, Milk Street, as paftor of the church at New 
Broad Street, Petty France. He died suddenly in December, 
1688. His funeral sermon was preached by Samuel Slater, 
who says : c He was of my acquaintance between thirty and 
forty years, a true and cordial friend ; he was just to his Master, 
Chrift, whom he loved, I dare to say, in sincerity, and served 
with spirit and strength the best he had ; for whom he 
courageously appeared, and unto whom he immoveably cleaved, 

and that in the worst of times He studied that he might 

be fit to preach, and he preached with fervour, zeal, and plain- 
ness, as one really set for the securing of himself and them that 

heard him Death, when it came to him, was in haste, 

and made quick dispatch. Our God hath sovereign right, and 

* Gent, ante; Cal. Ace. 306 j Cant. 473} Walker ii. 199; Lands. MSS. 
549 ; The Triers, ante. 



John Oakes. 353 

may do with His own as He will. He took him away from 
his work while he was at it, and I am apt to think if he 
had been put to his choice, he would have chosen to die so. It 
is counted noble for a soldier to die in the field, but it is more 
noble for a minister to die in the pulpit, and so to go from a 
place of service to a throne of glory.' 

There are publifhed of Oakes', 1. c Blessed Paul's Trial and 
Triumph ; a Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Elizabeth King.' Lond. 
1689, 4 to - > anc ^ 2 - C A Sermon in the Continuation of the 
Morning Exercise, on Prov. xxx. 8, 9.' * 

After his ejectment, Oakes removed to Little Baddow, 
where he met with great encouragement from Sir Gobert 
Barrington and his lady, who then resided at the ' Hall,' and 
where he also raised a congregation. When he left, he was 
succeeded in the paftorate by a Mr. Pindar, who is also said 
to have been ejected from some pariih in this county. Pindar, 
however, must have left shortly. Rand, the ejected vicar of 
Marks Tay, died pastor of the church in 1692. William 
Hunt, the son of another sufferer by the AcT: of Uniformity, 
Thomas Hunt, who was ejected from the living of Sutton, in 
Cambridgeshire, succeeded Rand. After sometime Hunt left, 
and, about 1700, Thomas Leavesly was elected to the vacancy. 
In 1 7 16, the congregation is returned as containing 'two 
hundred or three hundred' persons, eighteen of whom are 
described as having votes for the county ; five, as having votes 
for the borough of Colchefter ; six, as having votes for 
Maldon ; and ten of whom are described as gentlemen, f In 
1726, Leavesley also removed to London, and was succeeded 
in the same year by Thomas Jeffrey, who removed to Exeter 

* Cal. Ace. 300; Cont. 4605 Lands. These returns were collected by Dr. 
MSS. License Book, S. P. O. see p. 340. Evans, the author of ' Discourses on the 
Slater's sermon is entitled, * The Saint's Chriftian Temper,' from materials sup- 
Readiness for the Lord's Coming, preached plied to him by the first Lord Barrington. 
upon the death of that faithful and la- The MS. is preserved in the Redcross 
borious servant of Christ, Mr. John Street Library. There are some mistakes 
Oakes, M.A., Dec. 30. 1688.' Lond. in these returns 5 e. g., it describes the 
1689, i2mo. church at Terling as being Baptift. Still 

f Eflex Remembrancer, vol. iv. 1842. they are not without value. 

C C 



354 Lax and Carr, John Argor. 

in 1728, when he was followed by "Anthony Atkey, and Atkey 
by John Stitte. Stiffe conformed. c On our Lord's day (he) 
preached his farewell sermon at the meeting, and having, in the 
course of the following week, received episcopal ordination, on 
the next Sunday he ... . preached his first sermon in the 
parochial edifice.' He was succeeded by Richard Denny, 
Denny bv Evan Jones, and Jones bv William Parry, one of 
the ablest and most accomplished ministers of his day. In 
1798, Parry became president of the college at Wvmendley, 
and was succeeded by Stephen Morell, the father of the present 
minifter.* 

Boxted. — Lax. He seems to have succeeded John Hubbert, 
who was the vicar in 1648 and 1649, as at those dates respec- 
tively, he signed the c Essex Teftimonv ' and the ' Essex Watch- 
word.' I am informed bv the Rev. Charles Norman that there 
are no traces of Lax in the parish regiifer. His successor, 
Edward Hickeringill, was admitted October 22, 1662. 
One Carr was also ejected or silenced at Boxted. f 
Braintree. — fohn Argor. He was a native of Layer 
Breton, and educated at the University of Cambridge. He was 
firft rector of Lee, in the Hundred of Rochford, to which 
living he was presented bv Robert, Earl of W arwick, 12th of 
February, 1639. His name is printed in the c Classis,' Augar. 
He was one of the subscribers to the Effex Tesimonv in 1648, 
and also to the Effex Watchword in 1649. In 1650, he is 
returned ' John Augar (sic), well approved for learning and 
doctrine, and an able preaching minister.' On the death of 
Samuel Collins, Argor removed to the vicarage of Braintree, 
to which also it should appear that he was presented bv the 
Earl of Warwick. His name frequently appears in the parifh 
books at Braintree. In October, 1657, he received a gift of 
£100 from his parishioners, as a token of the estimation in 
which they held him. After his ejection from the vicarage, 

* The hiftory or this church well the EiTex Remembrancer hi, 211, 2;;, 

deserves a much more complete record 260. 

than my limits will allow. There are f Cal. Ace. 5075 Palmer, N. M. 

valuable papers on the subject, in ii. iSS j N. ii. So j Hickeringill, p. 304. 



John Argor. 355 

Argor continued to reside in Braintree for some time as teacher 
in the parish school. 

In 1655, the infamous statute, commonly known as the 
c Five Mile Act,' but whose proper title is, c An Act for 
restraining Nonconformists from inhabiting in Corporations/ 
passed both houses, and received the royal assent. This act. 
provided that no person who had not made the c declarations' 
required by the Act. of Uniformity, and should not also take 
and subscribe the oath following : c I do swear, that it is not 
lawful, upon any pretence whatever, to take arms againft the 
King, and that I do abhor that traitorous position of taking arms 
by his authority against his power, or againft those that are 
commiffioned by him .... and that I will not at any time 
endeavour any alteration either in church or state ;' and should 
take upon them to preach in any unlawful assembly .... 
under colour .... of any exercise of religion contrary to the 
laws and statutes of this kingdome, should at any time, unless 
only in passing upon the road, come, or be within five miles of 
any city or town corporate, or borough that sends burgesses to 
Parliament, or within five miles of any pariih, town, or place 
wherein he had been parson, vicar, stipendiary, or lecturer, 
.... on forfeiture for every such offence, of forty pounds.' 
It also provided that ' it should be lawful for any two Juftices 
of the Peace .... to commit the offender for six months.' 
This rendering Argor's longer refidence at Braintree illegal, he 
removed, as it should appear, to Copford. 

John Argor was the -first of the Essex ejected minifters to 
avail themselves of the measure of liberty which was allowed 
by the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672. He was accord- 
ingly licensed on the 2nd of April, in that year, to be a 
Presbyterian teacher, in ' Hezekiah Haynes' house at Copford, 
and c Zachariah Seaman's,' in Birch Magna. These houses 
were also licensed as ' places of meeting of the Presbyterian 
way' at the same date, as was also Argor's own house in 
Copford. He continued to reside, and also to preach at 
Copford, until his death in December, 1679, at the age of 
seventy-seven. His remains were buried in Copford Church. 

c c 2 



35° yohn Argor, Wivenhoe. 

Palmer relates that he often used to say, c he left his living 
upon no other terms than he would, if called to it, have laid 
down his life.' Palmer adds, c he was exceedingly beloved, 
and the loss of him was much lamented. He was a very 
serious and lovely Chriftian, who had a sense of religion 
betimes, and in his advanced years often had raptures of joy. 
When his livelihood was taken from him, he lived comfortably 
by faith. Being asked by some friends how he thought he 
should live, having a great family of children, his answer was, 
c as long as his God was his housekeeper he believed He would 
provide for him and his.' He kept a diary of God's providences 
towards him, and among other things in stirring up friends to 
assist him. The following are a few inftances in his own 
words : — c Jan. 2, 1663. I received ^5 2s. This was when 
I was laid aside for not conforming. So graciously did the 
Lord provide for his unworthy servant. Jan. 3. I received 
£3 19s. The Lord have the praise. And I received £3 15s. 
which was gathered for me by my friends. This great ex- 
perience of God's gracious providence I received at one and 
the same time. All glory be to God, blessed for ever. Apl. 
2, 1663. I received ^5 12s., so graciously doth the Lord 
regard the low condition of his servant. Blessed be His holy 
name for ever. I received likewise, on the 8th day, ^4, so 
good is the Lord in stirring up hearts and opening hands to 
the relief of His unworthy servant.' Many similar obser- 
vations are contained in his papers. Towards the close of 
his life, Argor £ had a people at Wivenhoe.' 

The congregation at Wivenhoe survived for many years. 
In 1 7 19, Samuel Wood, who had been pastor for some time 
previously, removed to Lavenham. Shortly afterwards a di- 
vision seems to have taken place, one part of the congregation 
being Presbyterian and another Baptist. These now wor- 
fhipped separately for some time. In 1794, both chapels had 
been closed, and Isaac Taylor, then paftor of St. Helen's Lane, 
Colchefter, recommenced preaching in the village, in conjunc- 
tion with William Kemp, who was then assistant to Giles 
Hobbs. They succeeded in gathering a church ; and in 1803, 



John Chandler. 357 

James Hyde settled as minifter there. A new chapel was now 
erected on the site of the present Britifh School Rooms. 
Hyde died in 1823, and was succeeded by Estcourt ; Estcourt 
by the Rev. C. Riggs, late of Tiptree ; Riggs by Joseph 
Woods ; Woods by Samuel Hubbard ; Hubbard by the Rev. 
G. Frost, now of Woodbridge ; and Frost by the present 
minifter, the Rev. J. R. Smith. * 

Little Bromley. — John Chandler. He is called Candler 
in Newcourt, who merely mentions his name, and assigns 
no date to his inftitution. He probably succeeded Thomas 
Felton, who was re£tor there, certainly as recently as Sep- 
tember 3, 1640. Chandler was first settled at Danbury, 
which living was sequeftered to him from Clement Vincent, 
before February 6, 1644. By June 13, 1646, he had left 
Danbury, and it was now probably that he became rector of 
Little Bromley. He seems to have been ejected because he 
would not submit to re-ordination, having been ordained by 
John Fairfax, afterwards ejected from Barking, and others, as 
a Prefbyterian. After his ejectment from Bromley he had com- 
munication on the subject with Reynolds, bifhop of Norwich, 
who said c he was as good a minister as he could make him ; 
and told him he might go and preach the gospel at Pettaugh,' 
in the county of Suffolk. Chandler accordingly went there. 

* Palmer's Nonconformist Memorials ■ abhorred any such designs, and from the 

ii. 1885 Newc. ii. 3845 Lands. MSS. beginning of Dec, 1660, to the beginning 

459 ; Cunnington MSS. of Braintree i. of Oct., had never left the country, but 

86, ii. 83. The parish school was en- lived privately at his own house ;' that he 

dowed with a farm at Stoke by Nayland, might ' have his liberty on giving security 

by James Coke, * for the teaching and for his peaceable living.' MSS. S.P.O. 

educating of the poor children of Brain- Charles II. 1661. His father, John 

tree to read and learn English and Latin.' Haynes, who was also of Copford Hall, 

See John Ray, infra ; Lands. MSS. 459 j was one of those who accompanied 

17 Charles II. ii. 2, 3, 4 ; Rapin, Hist, of Thomas Hooker to New England. He 

England ii. 662. Hezekiah Haynes was and several of his family settled at Cam- 

of Copford Hall (p. 318). In 1661 bridge, Mass. Farmer, Genealogical 

he was in cuftody on suspicion of being Regifter of First Settlers in N. E. 139. 

implicated in one of the reported con- The Seamans were a numerous and influ- 

spiracies of the time. He petitioned ential family at that date. Mor. ii. 195, 

Charles, on the allegation ' that he had 408. Morison and Blackburn MSS. and 

taken the oath of allegiance, and utterly Wivenhoe Church Books. 



35 8 Edward Symmes ^ Mark Mott, Thomas Archer, 

Calamy says that c he there read some of the common prayer, 
and now and then wore the surplice, but was threatened for 
not observing all the ceremonies. * 

Bumpstead Steeple. — Edward Sy?nmes. The return for 
this parish in 1650 is, ' last incumbent lately dead. The 
parish has allowed to him that officiates, twenty shillings per 
diem/ The last incumbent was John Wilson, who subscribed 
the Essex Testimony in 1648. Edward Symmes was admitted 
vicar after this date. He was ejected by the Act of Uni- 
formity. His successor, George Hyer, was admitted 22nd 
September, 1662. Symmes is said, by Calamy, to have been 
1 a very humble, modest, holy person.' f 

Chelmsford. — Mark Mott. The living had been se- 
queftered from John Michaelson, for political delinquency, 
and Mott was his immediate successor, as appears from the 
order of the House of Commons, February 9, 1643. Michael- 
son was presented to the living of Aiheldham not long after- 
wards. Mott had previously been Michaelson's curate. His 
signature appears to the petition in favour of Thomas Hooker. 
He also signed the Essex Teftimony in 1648. In 1650 the 
return for Chelmsford is, ' Mark Mott, by the Parliament, 
on the sequefrration of J. Michaelson, an able preaching 
minifter.' The Motts were a considerable family in Essex 
at that period. They may be found in Morant, at Shalford, 
Braintree, and Birch. The name of Mark is also frequently 
to be met with in the family". A Mark Mott, B.D., was 
vicar of Little Raine, 161 1 to 1630. Michaelson recovered 
his living at the reftoration, when he was also presented to the 
rectory of Orsett. Mott was therefore ejected under the act 
of 1660. % 

Chickney. — Thomas Archer. The rectory had been se- 
questered from William Mitchell. It would appear from the 

* Cal. Ace. 315; Add. MSS. 15669, H. of C. iii. 394; N. ii. 17, 454; 

15670, 2,08. Vincent, see Danbury. Michaelson pp. 149, 154 all. j Mor. ii. 

John Man, infra. 182, 396, 398 5 Hookerp. 149 ; see John 

f Cal. Ace. 306 ; Lands. MSS. 459 5 Reeve, Springfield, and Edward Rogers. 

N. ii. 112, see p. 287. Infra. 

% Cal. Ace. 304 ; Cont. 467 ; Jour. 



Thomas Archer. 359 

minutes of the Committee for Plundered Minifters, that articles 
had been exhibited against Mitchell before February 6, 1644, 
and that the main charges were c ignorance and unfitness.' His 
case was frequently heard by the committee, and by January 
10, 1645, it was resolved that the living should be sequestered. 
He appealed against the decision, and after some months delay, 
he was recommended for examination to the Assembly of 
Divines. He refused to appear before them, and no certificate 
being forthcoming from the assembly for that reason, on 
November 29, the sequestration was confirmed. Mitchell 
now appealed again; this time, that notwithstanding his previous 
refusal to obey the summons, he might still go to the assembly 
for examination. This was granted him December 15. June 
27, 1646, there is an entry that the c Assembly having certified 
as to his ignorance and unfitness, after hearing him and his 
counsell, the committee confirmed the sequestration.' Archer 
seems to have succeeded. He is returned in 1650, as 'an 
able divine, by sequestration from Mr. Mitchell.' As Archer 
was ejected before 28th July, 1660, Mitchell was still living 
at that date, but there is no entry of his having been restored 
to the rectory. 

In the Visitation Book of the archdeaconry of Middlesex, 
under date 18th April, 1644, there is a minute that Thomas 
Archer was cited before the court, held at Dunmowe, on that 
day, ' for maintaining conventicles tending to schisme, and 
for making various and large sermons in his house, and some- 
times in his barne, to (which) great numbers of people doe 
resort from other parifhes.' This was not the first time that 
he had been thus cited, as at this date he was under judicial 
admonimment to c forbeare such practices.' It was also laid to 
his charge that he ' absented himself from his parish church.' 
He appeared to the citation, and for his c irreverence and con- 
tempt of the law and jurisdiction of the church,' the court 
decreed that he should be excommunicated, and he ' was 
excommunicated accordingly.' * 

* Cal. Ace. 311 ; Add. MSS. 15660, 519, 527, May 8, 15670, 13, 49, 219, 
Feb. 6, 27, 1644, ib. 274, 296, 351, 251. 



360 "John Harvey, James Willett. 

Chiderditch — John Harvey. He succeeded Daniel 
Duckfield, who died in January, 1653. He is called Harris 
by Calamy, but in the minutes of the Archidiaconal Visitation, 
1662, under the heading of this parifh, it is c Mr. John Harvey, 
vie; vacat. rat. stat.' * 

Little Chishill — James Willett. He was probably the 
son of Andrew Willett, whom he seems, to have succeeded in 
this reclrory. His name appears on the c Classis.' 

In 1647, c a deftrucfive party' sent down a petition to the 
ministers of EfTex, for submiffion to their people for the 
purpose of obtaining signatures. It was addressed ' To the 
Right Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, 
assembled in Parliament,' and complaining of c the army men 
on foot, after six moneths cessation of all hostilities here, and 
so bleedlngly called for to the saving of another kingdome ;' 
and also prayed for c the difbanding of the army, as a plenary 
expedient againft the worst that in generall may be feared by 
you and us, and the removall of it from the county, by which 
you shall continue absolute masters and disposers of them and 
theirs.' When this reached Willett, he immediately commu- 
nicated with the Parliament, f 

Willett's name appears among the subscribers to the EfTex 
Testimony in 1648. In 1649 he was appointed one of the 
Parliamentary visitors for the reformation of the Univerfity of 
Cambridge. In 1650 he is returned as c a preaching minister.' 
According to Newcourt, he anticipated the Act of Uniformity 
by a voluntary resignation before June 13, 1662. What became 
of him after he was silenced I have not been able to ascertain. J 

* Cal. Ace. 312 ; Duckfield, pp. 156, and put upon the Inhabitants of EfTex to 

257. deftroy the Army under Sir Thomas 

f This petition proved to be one of the Fairfax, &c, with certain Observations 

reactionary measures which ultimately led and Cautions upon the same.' London, 

to the disaftrous collision between the 1647, 4-to. It is not impossible that 

Parliament and the Army. Pari. Hist. Willett was the writer of the Tract. Jour. 

Hi. 562, 576; Rapin, Hist. E. ii. 550. H. of Com. v. 154; Lands. MSS. 459 j 

Sir Charles Lucas had to do with it. Newc. ii. 151. 'The Answer of the 

\ Cal. Ace. 307 ; Cont. 475 ; Cole Lords and Commons to the EfTex Petition 

MSS. xv. 65. 'A new found Stratagem for a Personall Treaty, Disbanding the 

framed in the Old Forge of Machiavelisme, Army, and settling the Kingdom.' 



John Moore. 361 

There are traces of a church at Chishill as early as 1694. 
John Nicholls, a native of Hatfield Broad Oak, settled here 
before 1712. In 1716, the congregation is returned as con- 
taining five hundred persons, forty-three of whom had votes for 
the county of EfTex, and seven for the county of Herts. The 
chapel was erected in 1723. Nicholls died in 1740, and was 
succeeded by James Watson. Watson removed to London in 
1760. After some time he was succeeded by his son William, 
who died in 1793. The church shortly elected James Dobson 
as their pastor, who died in May, 1832. Dobson was succeeded 
by John Dorrington, who refigned in 1847 ; Dorrington by the 
Rev. James Mirams, who resigned in February, 1857 ; and 
Mirams by the present paftor, the Rev. James Hayle Irwin.* 

Clavering. — John Moore. The living, it should seem, 
had been sequeftered from John Cornelius, who was also rector 
of Peldon. At Clavering, Cornelius was the successor of John 
Sedgwick, of whom it may be well to give some brief notice. 
He was the brother of Obadiah Sedgwick, of Coggeshall, to 
whom it is said that he was at one time assistant in that parifh. 
He was born at Marlborough, in 1601, and after having 
received a preliminary training in his native town, he entered 
Queen's College, Oxford. In December, 1621, he was 
ordained deacon by Mountaigne, bifhop of London. His firft 
settlement as a minifter was in the cure of one of the city 
parifhes, about which time he was also preacher at Chiswick, 
in Middlesex. In April, 1641, he succeeded John Halsey in 
in the rectory of St Alphage, in the city of London. It was 



Lond. 1648, 4to. See also « The humble of Kent, EfTex, Middlesex, and Surrey, 

Petition of the Grand Jury at the Affizes unto the Soldiers of the Army now under 

holden at Chelmsford for the County of the command of Lord Fairfax.' Broad- 

EfTex, 23rd March, 1647(8), as it is pre- sheet, published by direction of divers 

sented to both the Houses of Parliament, Gentlemen of the said Counties, and 

May 4, 1648, by divers thousands of < A Letter from a Gentleman in Colches- 

Knights, Gentlemen, and Freeholders of ter to his friend in London.' Broadsheet, 

the same County.' Broadsheet, printed p. 285. 

for Joseph Hanscot, 1648; also printed * Morison's and Blackburn's MSS. j 

in Jour. H. of Lords x. 244. 'The EfTex Cong. Remb. vi. 79,995 Returns 

Joynt Declaration of the several Counties 171 6. p. 353. 



362 John Moore. 

probably before this that he became vicar of Clavering. 
Sedgwick died rector of St. Alphage, October, 1643, and was 
buried in the chancel of the church there. He publifhed 
1. ' Fury Fired, or Crueltie Scourged. A sermon on Amos 
i. 12.' Lond. 1625, 8vo., preached at St. Botolph's, Bishops- 
gate ; 2. 'The Bearing and Burden of the Spirit,' in two 
sermons on Prov. xviii. 14. Lond. 1639, 8vo. ; 3. c Eye of 
Faith open to God.' A sermon. Lond. 1640, i2mo. ; 
4. c Wonder Working God.' A sermon. London, 1641, 
i2mo. ; 5. c England's Condition parallelled with Jacob's.' 
Two sermons. Lond. 1642, 4to. ; 6. c Antinomianisme 
Anatomized, or a Glasse for the Lawless who deny the 
Moral Law unto Chriftians under the Gospel.' Lond. 
1643, 4to.* 

The date of the admiffion of Cornelius to Clavering does 
not appear. It was probably in 1641. He had been admitted 
to Peldon on the 2nd November, 1640. He evidently ren- 
dered himself especially obnoxious to the people in the great 
struggle of the day, and from the account given of his ' suf- 
ferings ' in the outbreak of 1640, in the ' Mercurius Rusticus,' 
it is clear that he was then non-resident at Clavering. His 
sequeftration may, therefore, be inferred to have been caused 
by some political delinquency and pluralism. He was suc- 
ceeded at Peldon by Francis Ongue, between whom and Mrs. 
Cornelius there was a long controversy about her fifths, which 
was not finally decided until after July 28, 1646, although 
the sequeftration had taken place about 1643. Ongue was 
still at Peldon in 1648, when he was one of the subscribers to 
the EfTex Testimony, f Moore was the immediate succefTor of 
Cornelius at Clavering: his name appears in the c Classis ' 
here. He also subscribed the EfTex Testimony, in 1648, as 
of Clavering; and, in 1650, the return is, 'John Moore, an 
able preacher. Langley, chapel to Clavering, two miles dis- 
tant. Richard Southey, by the appointment of Moore.' As 

* Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 33 ; N. i. 261 ; MSS. 15669, March 2, 1644, May 20, 
Brooks' Lives ii. 485. ^45, see pp. 186, 238, ; 15670, 321. 

f Walker ii. 218 ; N. ii. 466 ; Add. 



John Sames. 363 

Cornelius recovered both his livings at the reftoration, Moore 
would be ejected under the act of 1660. Cornelius was also 
rewarded with the rectory of Merdon, in the county of Herts, 
13th March, 1662. * 

Moore was born at Barton Overey, in Leicestershire, and 
educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge When he left the 
University he settled at Bedford, and thence removed to 
Clavering, where he continued seventeen years. He preached 
afterwards at Easton, in Huntingdonfhire, where he had 
an estate. He died in 1673, about the seventieth year of 
his age. f 

Coggeshall. — John Sames. He was educated in New 
England. We first meet with him at Kelvedon, in this 
county. The following is the entry of his appointment to 
that parish in the minutes of the Committee for Plundered 
Ministers : c Whereas the vicarage .... was sequestered 
from Peter Deares to the use of Thomas Hemstead, and 
Thomas Hemstead is since deceased, it is ordered that it be 
sequestered to the use of John Sames, a godly and orthodox 
divine.' The date of the entry is September 9, 1647. He 
was still at Kelvedon in 1650, as appears from the Parlia- 
mentary return of that year, so frequently quoted in these 
pages. \ He was vicar of Coggefhall as early as 1654, as he 
was then appointed one of the trustees of Gooday's charity, 
and also nominated as one of the affistants to the county 
commissioners for the removal of scandalous and insufficient 
ministers, in that capacity. After his ejection from the 
vicarage, he continued to reside at Coggefhall, until the passing 
of the Five Mile Act, when he would have removed. He 
returned, however, before 1669, as the return of c conventi- 
cles ' of that date reports one at Coggefhall, which it describes 
as c hard to be suppressed,' and mentions as the ministers ' Mr. 

* N. i. 848. questered at Kelvedon, but he had re- 

f Cal. Ace. 309 ; Cont. 483 \ Lands. signed before Jan. 1640. N. ii. 350. 

MSS. 459, see infra. I find no mention of Deares. Lands. 

% Add. MSS. 15669. Walker ii. 200, MSS. 459. 

says that Alexander Bonniman was se- 



364 Cogge shall. 

Sammes (sic), Mr. Lowry.' On the Declaration of Indul- 
gence, Sames took out a license to be a Congregational teacher 
in the house of John Croe, at Coggefhall. A license was also 
taken out for Croe's house to be a Congregational meeting 
house. This was May 1, 1672. About the same time 
there were five other licenses taken out in that town ; two by 
Thomas Lowry, one by Matthew Ellistone, and one by 
William Grove, to be a ' Congregational teacher in his own 
house,' and also one by Thomas Millaway, to be a ' general 
Congregationalist teacher.' Sames died in the December fol- 
lowing, and was buried in the parochial churchyard on the 
1 6th of that month. 

Sames' funeral sermon was preached by his friend, Thomas 
Lowry, from Is. lxiii. 1, 2. He says, ' We have been burying 

the greatest riches of the town, the jewel of the town 

Some men's death is but a cipher, and a hundred ciphers 
signify nothing; but the death of some is a figure, and a 

figure of one and three ciphers stand for a thousand 

He had a rich propriety in God and Christ, and he had a 
gospel spirit in his prayers and preaching ' 

Sames was succeeded in the pastoracy of the church at Cog- 
gefhall by Robert Gouge, of whom I shall have occasion to 
speak hereafter. During his ministry a barn was purchased 
and fitted up as a place of worfhip. Gouge was succeeded by 
Edward Bentley in 1706. In 1715 other premises were 
purchased, and a new chapel erected. One of the principal 
subscribers to this building was Richard Du Cane, the founder 
of the family of that name which is now seated at Brackstead 
Lodge. In 1716 the congregation is returned as 'containing 
700 hearers/ forty-three of whom were c voters for Essex,' 
and nineteen are described as c gentlemen.' Bentley died 
June 9, 1740, and was succeeded by John, the brother of 
Hugh Farmer, of Walthamstow, who had been his co-pastor ; 
Farmer by Nicholas Humphrey ; Humphrey by Henry, the 
son of Samuel Peyto, the ejected minister of Sandcroft, in the 
county of Suffolk ; Peyto by Mordecai Andrews ; Andrews by 
Jeremiah Fielding ; Fielding by the justly honoured Algernon 



Owen Stockton. 365 

Wells ; Wells by John Kay ; and Kay by the late pastor, the 
Rev. Bryan Dale. * 

Colchester. — Owen Stockton. He was born at Chichefter 
in May, 1630. His father, of the same name, was a preben- 
dary of the cathedral church in that city. His father dying 
when he was but seven years of age, he removed with his 
mother, who was one of the Tiler family, of the county of 
Cambridge, to Ely. He was educated in the grammar school 
of Ely, under the care ot William Hitches. He became a 
decided character while yet a lad, and early resolved to devote 
himself to the work of the miniftry. At the age of sixteen he 
was sent to the University of Cambridge, and January 21, 
1645, was admitted of Christ's College as a pupil of the cele- 
brated Henry More. Not long after his admission to Cambridge, 
on the occasion of a visit paid to the University by Charles I., 
he was introduced to his Majefty, who is said to have passed 
this compliment upon him, c Here is a little scholar indeed, 
God bless him.' After he had taken his degree of B.A., he 
still continued to reside in Chrift's College, applying himself 
with great diligence to more special preparation for his life's 
great work. In pursuance of this objecl:, he spent some months 
in London, conversing with the principal booksellers, searching 
the libraries at Zion College, and elsewhere ; and frequenting 
the 'exercises' of the more diftinguifhed London ministers, and 
attending the lectures at Gresham College. By which means, 
says his biographer and friend, the good John Fairfax, who 
was ejected from Barking, in the county of Suffolk, ' he made 
so great improvement of himself, that he hath often said since, 
that if it should please God to give him a son of his own, 
disposed to the miniftry, he should give it him as his particular 
advice, before he entered on the work of preaching, to spend 
some months in London, as he had done himself.' When he 
was c middle bachelor,' he removed from Chrift's to Caius', 
where he was chosen 'junior fellow.' In 1652, he had taken 

* Dale, Annals of Coggefhall ; Essex Church and Congregation at Coggefhall, 

Remembrancer iv. 256 ; Returns for narrating their persecution of him for the 

1716, p. 353. Lowry and Elliftone, last twelve years.' Coggeshall, 1815. 
infra ; Fielding, ' Series of Letters to the 



366 Owen Stockton. 

his degree of mafter, and was elected c senior fellow.' It was 
now that he began to preach. c His manner was at first to 
enquire out what small parishes, within ten or fifteen miles of 
Cambridge, were destitute of minifters : unto these he went 
and preached, and that with such privacy, as for some while 
none knew of it but himself and the parifhioners to whom he 
went; and to many of them it was a long time unknown either 
who he was or from whence he came. This service he per- 
formed gratis, neither expecting nor receiving any worldly 
reward.' In these itinerant labours he met with great accept- 
ance and realized great usefulness, particularly, it is said, at 
Burwell, S waff ham, Soham, Land-Beach, and Chefterton, in 
Cambridgeshire; Debenham, in Suffolk; and Wethersfield, 
in Effex. In 1654, he was elected c catechift ' of his college. 
c This was the firft place where he settled himself to a confuant 
course of preaching. Wherein God did greatly encourage him, 
for, the very first night he exercised, one of the Fellows came to 
him, and told him he had felt the power of God in the ordi- 
nance on his heart.' Soon after this he was invited to occupy 
the pulpit of St. Andrew's, Cambridge. His success in this 
new sphere determined him at once, and formally, to undertake 
the office to which he was now persuaded he had been called 
of God. Accordingly he was ordained by the Prefbytery of 
London, February 3, 1655. On his return to Cambridge, in 
addition to his labours at St. Andrew's, he still continued in 
his office of ' catechifl ' at Caius, and at the same time em- 
ployed himself as tutor also in his college. 

Stockton's reputation as a preacher continuing to increase, 
in 1657, he was invited by the mayor, Thomas Laurence, 
and the corporation of Colchester, to occupy the post so 
ably filled in former years by Northye, Ames, Bridge, and 
John Knowles. This invitation he accepted after much 
and anxious deliberation. c It fared with him at Colchefter 
as it did at Cambridge. He thought he did not work enough, 
and he therefore asked leave, and freely offered himself, 
to preach also on the Lord's day mornings at St. James' 
church, not desiring any outward reward for it ; which 



Owen Stockton. 367 

was granted and accepted. He was to this place a very great 
blessing j and here he laboured in the word and doctrine, till 
by the Act of Uniformity he was, with the reft of his brethren, 
debarred from the public exercises of the miniftry. Yet, not 
thinking himself bound to be his own executioner, and there 
being mutual obligations by contract between the town and 
him, that the one should not eject, nor the other desert, with- 
out so long warning, he did, after the fatal Bartholomew, 
continue his publick preaching some time, till, having occasion 
to take a journey into Cambridge, in his absence another was 
put into his place by Sheldon.' This other was Richard Pulley, 
who was already admitted to the rectory of Fordham, on the 
ejectment of John Bulkley, and who undertook the lecture at 
the command of Sheldon, in a letter dated December 20, 1662. 
After his return from Cambridgeshire, Stockton opened his own 
house for public worship to those who were desirous of enjoying 
the continuance of his miniftry. For this, as might have been 
expected, he was soon and frequently involved in trouble. 

Stockton's diary, which, with a number of other MSS., 
is preserved in the library at Redcross Street, a catalogue 
of which will be found appended to this notice, contains 
several entries of great interest, relating to this period. April 
16, 1665, he thus writes : c It being a time of danger as to 
ye keeping of my meeting service, many souldiers being in 
ye towne, I being dubious whether I should admit ye people to 
come or no, when I considered that Christ took it as an act of 
love to feed his sheep — John xxi. 5— that he exposed himself 
to death to save mee, I being under a sense of the comfort that 
the Lord had given mee in the morning, in my meditation on 
1 Tim. i. 15, I was willing to adventure myself upon the 
providence of God.' While the authorities were thus intent 
on the silencing of Stockton, and the dispersion of his flock, so 
great was the dearth of preaching that, as appears from an 
entry in the Assembly Book, under date May 23, 1665, they 
urged Pulley, the lecturer, on that ground, to preach there c as 
well on Sundays as on Wednesdays in the forenoon, if it may 
stand with his convenience,' promising him an addition of 



368 Owen Stockton. 

fifty pounds to his yearly income if he would consent to their 
proposal. June 22, of the same year, Stockton writes : ' As 
I was exercising in my family, in the afternoon, severall of my 
friends being with me, I had word sent me that Sir J(ohn) 
S(haw), the recorder ; the mayor, Thomas Wade ; and justices, 
would come down to my house. Whereupon I, being near 
the end of my exercise, concluded with a short prayer. After 
I (had) done, and dismissed the people, one of the constables 
came to me and told me he was sent to dissolve my meeting, 
and had some kind of trembling upon him when he spoke to 
me, and said he blessed God that had given him an heart to 
come sometimes himselfe, and his wife, to my meetings, so 
that instead of doing me any hurt, he gave glory to God for 
giving him an heart to be present.' 

Stockton had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Roger 
Rant, of SwafFham Priors, and one of her sisters had married 
John Meadows, the ejected rector of Ousden, in the county of 
Suffolk. Meadows was now refiding on his patrimonial eftate 
at Chatsham, in that county, and Stockton this year removed to 
that parifh. Auguft 24, he makes this entry in his diary : 
c Being Bartholomew's day, I sent away a load of goods to 
Chatfham ;' and the next day he writes, ' I removed my family 
and went also myself from Colchefter to Chatfham. I found 
my soul in a gracious frame as I was upon my journey thither, 
longing after the Lord and sighing out Moses' request : 'if 
thy presence go not with me carry us not up hence.' ' But 
though prudence had constrained him to remove from Colchefter 
as a refidence, he could not withhold himself from preaching 
in that neighbourhood as opportunity offered. In October 
he writes : c being desired to go to Nayland, there being some 
inconveniences in the way, I went, thro' some difficulties, 
and had a gracious opportunity.' And shortly afterwards we 
have the following entry : C I promised Mr. B(igley) to preach 
at White Colne, if the souldiers that were busy in these 
parts were quiet, and if anything fell not out to hinder me. 
On Saturday I was prepared to go y H. P. * came and told me 

* Henry Pigot, one of the many to sky. He had been ejedted from the 
whom Meadows was kind in their adver- maftership of Shrewsbury shool. 



Owen Stockton. 369 

that the souldiers had illused Mr. B. and imprisoned him, and 
that it was not safe for me to go at that season. All my friends 
difTuaded me, my child being about me in an unusual manner, 
crying, would by no means be pacified, saying the troopers would 
kill me. But, notwithstanding, my mind stood to go. But 
being importuned by my friends to stay, and having been very 
latterly sought for by name by the souldiers in these parts, and 
considering the providence in sending H. to my house, by this 
intelligence, as I was about to leave, and as my promise was 
not absolute but conditional, I determined to cast myself on 
my brother for his determination, as he was at my house ; and 
he determining that I should not go, I stayed.' In November, 
however, we find that he had been into EfTex, and remained 
there for some ten or twelve days. On his return he says : ' I 
found God graciously present with me, and sensibly answering 
prayer, in guiding and disposing, and taking care of me in my 
way, and in giving me many opportunities of service.' He 
thus continued labouring, not only in the neighbourhood, but 
also in Colchester itself, for some time, as in 1669 he is 
reported to Sheldon as having ' a conventicle in Colchester, 
with Geo. Done.' He also frequently preached at Chatfham, 
where c the minifter of the parifli having another cure,' says 
Fairfax, c by reason whereof he could attend but once a 
fortnight, did in his absence not only willingly but thankfully 
indulge to him the use of his pulpit.' About this time we find 
him preaching at Manningtree, at Marks Tay, and also at 
Ipswich, at which laft place he tells us that in 1670, c Mr. 
Maidftone presented me in the Ecclefiaftical Court for preach- 
ing againft the law, and more of the townsmen for assisting me, 
whereupon I was hindered from the publicke exercise of my 
miniftry.' 

On the indulgence of 1672, Stockton took out a license, on 
the 1 6th of April in that year, to be a ' Prefbyterian and Inde- 
pendent teacher in Grey Friers House, in St. Nicholas parifh,' 
Ipswich \ and on the same day a license was taken out for that 
house to be a Prefbyterian and Independent meeting house. 
This was in connection with his friend Henry Havers. On 

D D 



37° Owen Stockton. 

the 22nd of May following, a license was taken out for the 
house of Robert Howlett, c in St. Martin's Lane, Colchefter, to 
be an Independent meeting house ; ' and on that day Stockton 
took out a license to be c an Independent teacher' there. 

Stockton quietly slept in the Lord, September 10, 1680, 
in the one and fiftieth year of his age. He bequeathed 
the greater part of his valuable library to Gonville and 
Caius College, with c five hundred pounds- to be laid out by 
his executors in purchasing a freehold estate or impropria- 
tion to be settled on the said college for the maintenance 
of a scholar there successively for ever; provided that such 
only be elected thereto as are poor, or orphans, or the sons 
of poor minifters, of the beft and moft hopeful parts, obliging 
them to the study of divinity and the minifterial work, 
taking special care that such be well grounded and eftablifhed 
in the orthodox faith, the true Protestant reformed religion ; 
and in case any such elected shall become corrupted in 
doctrine and scandalous in life, then, after due admonition 
and non-reformation, his place to be declared void and 
another to be chosen in his stead : and none to enjoy it 
more than twelve years.' Besides which, continues his bio- 
grapher, c he hath also bequeathed, in case his only daughter 
shall die before she shall accomplifh the age of one and twenty 
years, twenty pounds per annum to be settled on the college 
in New England, for the education of a converted Indian, 
or any other that will learn the Indian language, to be a 
minifter and go and preach the gospel to the poor Indians. 

He publifhed : 1. ' A Treatise of Family Inftrucliion.' Lond. 
1672, 8vo. Prefixed is an ' Epiftle addrefTed to Parents and 
Mailers of Families, more especialy to such as are Inhabitants 
of Colchefter, in EfTex,' in which he says : ' I have composed 
this treatise for the use of such as are not provided of better helps, 
but more especially for you, my dearly beloved friends, among 
whom I have lived, and with whom I have conversed. My 
humble and earnest requeft to you is, that if you have any love 
to the Lord Jesus, you would express it by feeding his lambs 
with the sincere milk of His Word ; if you have any zeal for 



Owen Stockton. 371 

the glory of God, if any bowels for your pofterity, if any defire 
of their spiritual and eternal welfare, if any regard to the gene- 
rations that are yet unborn, if you have ever found any comfort 
in or benefit by the hand of God, that you would bend your 
minds and set your hearts to this good work of inftructing your 
children and servants in the knowledge, and training them up 
in the obedience of the Scriptures ; ' 2. c A Scriptural Cate- 
chism, useful for all sorts of persons.' Lond. 1672, 8vo. j 
3. c A Rebuke to the Informers, with a Plea for the Minifters 
of the Gospel called Nonconforming and their Meetings ; and 
advice to those to whom the Informers address themselves for 
affistance in their undertakings.' Lond. 1675. Part IV. of the 
c Conformift's Plea for the Nonconforming,' Lond. 1683, 
contains several examples of the wretched men with whom 
Stockton so tenderly expostulates in the former part of this 
treatise. One of the busieft in this county was John 
Hunnucks, of Braintree. The c Conformift,' who styles him- 
self on his title-page c A Beneficed Clergyman of the Church 
of England,' gives this account of him : ' He was the son 
of a wealthy draper and grocer in that town. A pious 
education and example had little efficacy upon him ; but being 
witty, and capable of the management of his own and his 
father's trade, was left co-executor with his mother-in- 
law, who prudently agreed with him to get into her own 
hands her part and the portion of one child. He married the 
daughter of a very wealthy person, had four children by her, 
observed family duties and wanted not gifts ; and was wont to 
go sometimes to hear the Nonconformifts, who were afterwards 
persecuted by him. Not many months after his wife died he 
grew wild and debauched, swearing, drinking, and with his 
drawn sword forcing others to drink up to his measure. In 
nine or ten years he consumed all his father left him and his 
children, ran far into debt, and caft himself into prison. The 
first Lord's day after the act againft conventicles came into 
force, he began to inform, and as 'twas said, he reckoned to 
get sixty pounds per week by that good trade, after his failing 
of other trades. During this time he grew more debauched 

d d 2 



37 2 Owen Stockton. 

and vile, reckoning this amongft his glories, that he had con- 
verted and brought more to church than all the preachers ; ' * 
4. 'Counsel to the Afflicted.' This book was occasioned by 
the great fire of London in 1668. Shortly afterwards a similar 
calamity laid a great part of the city of Bofton, N. E., in 
ruins. Stockton hearing of this, sent a confiderable number of 
copies of this c Counsel ' for gratuitous diftribution among the 
sufferers. After his death, there was published, 5. c Consola- 
tions in Life and Death, wherein is shewed that intereft in 
Chrift is a Ground of Comfort under all the Troubles of Life 
and Terrors of Death. How they that have an intereft in Chrift 
may retain the same. Began in a funeral sermon occasioned 
by the death of Mrs. Ellen Afty, and since much enlarged.' 
Lond. 1 68 1, i2mo. f To this volume there is prefixed a dedi- 
catory epiftle by Samuel Petto, the ejected rector of Sandcroft, 
in the county of Suffolk, who was afterwards paftor of a church 
at Sudbury; 6. 'The Beft Interest, or a Treatise of a Saving 
Intereft in Christ.' Lond. 1682, i2mo. To this also there 
is a dedicatory epiftle prefixed by Samuel Petto ; 7. ' A 
Warning to Drunkards ; delivered in several sermons to a con- 
gregation in Colchefter, upon the occasion of a sad providence 
towards a young man dying in the Act of Drunkenness.' Lond. 
1682. To this volume there is prefixed a dedicatory epiftle 
by John Fairfax. It is addressed ' To the Right Worfhipful 
Ralph Crafleld, Esq., and Nathaniel Laurence, Esq., Aldermen 
of Colchester and Juftices of the Peace for the county of 
EfTex,' from which it appears that these gentlemen were per- 
sonal friends of Stockton's. % 

Stockton's MSS. are, 1. A large number of sermons, all 

* See ante p. 344 ; Conformist's Plea his memory. Crafield, or rather Cref- 

72, 74. field, for so the name appears on his grave- 

f Ellen was the wife of Robert Asty, stone, in the chancel of St. Nicholas' 

the ejected minister of Stratford, in the Church, was Mayor in 1668, 1673, x 677> 

county of Suffolk. Her life is appended and 1680. His was knighted by Anne 

to the volume. in 1713, and died in June, 1732. His 

J Laurence was Mayor of Colchester widow left ^3 a year to the poor of the 

in 1672, 1679, and 1683. He died May parish of Trinity. Mor. MSS. Col. 

5, 1 7 14, and was buried in St. James' Mus. ; Mor. Col. 166, Ap. 22. 
Church, where there is a monument to 



Owen Stockton, Edward Warren. 373 

written out pretty fully, eight of which bear the date at which 
they were preached marked on them One of these was 
preached on the Lord's day afcer the proclamation of Charles. 
It is another illuftration of the simplicity of numbers of the 
victims of that monarch's treachery in relying on his large pro- 
fessions made when he was yet in exile ; 2. A Treatise of 
Glorifying God, ready for the press; 3. Practical Queftions 
concerning the Peftilence ; being a letter to the Inhabitants of 
Colchefter ; a thick small 4to., also ready for the press; 4. His 
Diary, inscribed c Observations and Experiences of God's 
dealings with my Soul, and other memorable passages of His 
Providence, taken and recorded since April 1, 1668 ;' 5. Diary 
of Mrs. Stockton. * 

Colchester. — Edward Warren. Ejected from the vicarage 
of St. Peter's. He signs his name in the parish regifter, as 
appears from several entries with which I am favoured by the 
Rev. H. Cadell, the present vicar, ' Edward Warren, alias 
Sidling.' He appears to have been of Pembroke Hall, Cam- 
bridge, and to have taken the degree of M.A. in 1646. The 
return for the parish of St. Peter's in 1650 is, c Mr. Carter 
presented, but not admitted; Mr. James supplies the cure.' 
Carter was presented by Sir Henry Audley. The name of 
Warren first appears in the regifter in 1657, when there is an 
entry of the baptism of Sarah, his daughter; in January, 1659, 
there is an entry of the baptism of his son Edward ; and in 
December, 1661, of the baptism of Rachel, his daughter. 
August 25, 1662, the very day after the Bartholomew Act 
came into operation, there is an entry of a baptism with the 
signature of c Edward Hickeringill, vicar.' After his ejectment 
Warren continued in the town, and it is said c practised 

* Cal. Ace. 292; Cont. 456; License of God's word at Colcheter, in Essex ; 

Book, S. P. O. p. 340. ' The true with a Collection of his Observations, 

dignity of St. Paul's Elder 5 exemplified in Experiences and Endeavours, recorded by 

the life of that reverend, holy, zealous, his own hand. To which is added his 

and faithful servant and minifter of Jesus Funeral Sermon, by John Fairfax, M.A., 

Christ, Mr. Owen Stockton, M. A., some- sometime fellow of C. C, in C, and 

time fellow of Gonvil and Caius College, afterwards rettor of Barking, in Suffolk.' 

in Cambridge, and afterwards preacher London, 1681. i2mo. 



374 Edward Warren. 

physick.' In 1672 he was one of the first to take out a 
license to be a Prefbyterian teacher at 'his own house, or John 
Rayner's, in Colchefter,' and at the same time these houses 
were licensed to be ' Prefbyterian meeting places.' The 
licenses were issued April 17. At this date Stockton had 
also taken out a license to be an Independent teacher in c the 
house of Robert Howlett,' which was licensed as an ' Inde- 
pendent meeting place/ The two good men appear to have 
conducted public worfhip on the Lord's days, alternately 
preaching at either of the licensed houses indifferently. 

The caftle was now the property of Sir James Northfolk, 
sergeant-at-arms to the House of Commons, to whom it had 
been conveyed by purchase, in January, 1661. Before the 
death of Stockton, the congregation to whom he and Warren 
jointly miniftered, worfhipped there. When Stockton died 
his place was filled up by William Folkes, the ejected vicar of 
All Saints, Sudbury. Warren seems to have continued to 
alternate the services with Folkes, as he had done with his 
predecessor. He also survived Folkes, and died in 1690. 
Calamy says of Warren, that ' he was a man of singular parts 
and good elocution, but withal exceedingly humble,' and also 
that c he carryed himself so affably and courteously to all that 
he was generally beloved.' Warren publifhed, 1. c Caleb's 
Inheritance in Canaan by Grace not Works, in answer to a 
book of the Doctrine of Baptism, &c, by Tho. Patient.' 
Lond., 1656, 4to. 2. ' The Jewish Sabbath antiquated, 
and the Lord's Day inftituted by Divine Authority,' in answer 
to T. Tillam, 1659. This book is dedicated to John Gurdon, 
Esquire, Juftice of the Peace for the county of Suffolk. * 

About the date of the revolution we find three congregations 
in Colchefter, each with its own place of worfhip. About 
1690, the Presbyterians had erected a commodious building in 
St. Helen's Lane, and the Independents, who were of long 
standing in the town, one John Ward having been paftor of a 
church of that order here as early as 1640, another in Moor 

* Cal. Ace. 293 ; Hickeringill pp. 304, 354. 



Edward Warren. 375 

Lane ; the Baptists also worshipped in Moor Lane, but not as 
yet in a building of their own. Daniel, the son of Thomas 
Gilson, was the first minifter at St. Helen's Lane. He died 
February 8, 1727-8, at the age of 71, and was succeeded by 
John Tren, who had been his assistant some years previously, 
and who also preached his funeral sermon, which was after- 
wards publifhed. He died June 17, 1738. Tren publifhed 
several sermons, among others, c The Glory of an Ancient 
Saint considered : preached at the opening of the chappel at the 
late Alderman Winsley's charity houses, January 1, 1736,' 
Colchefter. He was succeeded by Richard Harrison, and 
Harrison by Bulkley and Gillibrand, the former of whom was 
minister in 1739, and the latter in 1741. James Throgmorton 
became the minifter in 1742 ; he died in 1753, and was suc- 
ceeded by Thomas Stanton, afterwards D.D. Stanton early 
imbibed the Arianism of the day, and on his removal to the 
neighbourhood of Norwich in 1776, he was succeeded by 
William Waters. Waters removed in 1782, and Rees Harris 
was the paftor until 1795. Both Harris and Waters held the 
same sentiments as Stanton. With the succession of Isaac 
Taylor, however, in 1796, the gospel was reftored. Taylor 
removing to Ongar in 18 10, Richard Drake became the 
minifter for a short time, and after an interval of two years 
was succeeded by the present pastor of the church in Stockwell 
Street, the Rev. Joseph Herrick. In 18 14, Mr. Herrick and 
his congregation removed to their present chapel. The Uni- 
tarian element, which had still survived at St. Helen's Lane, 
now became predominent, and after having passed through 
several changes, the old meeting house was at length purchased 
by a few persons, chiefly seceders from the Methodist body, 
who formed themselves into a church, and elected Mr. John 
Houchin as their minifter. The church is now avowedly 
Congregational. * 

The trust deed of the Independent meeting house in Moor 
Lane, which stood on the site now occupied by the British 

* Morison and Blackburn MSS. 



37 6 Edward Warren. 

School Rooms there, bears date March 4, 1691, on which day 
it was conveyed to truftees by the Rev. W. Rawlinson, the 
paftor o£ the church. One of the truftees was Arthur 
Winsley, the founder of the alms houses. Rawlinson died 
about 1692, and was succeeded in December, 1693, by John 
Gledhill, who died in 1727. In 1728 John Collins was chosen 
paftor, and was succeeded in 1738 by Benjamin Vowell. 
Ebenezer Cornell became the paftor in 1743. He publifhed 
c The Character of Faithful Minifters, and the respect due 
to their memory : a Funeral Sermon for the Rev. W. Notcutt, 
of Ipswich.' 1756, 8vo. Cornell was succeeded by John 
Crisp. In 1765 the church removed to a new chapel in the 
Lion Walk. Crisp resigned in 1773. Giles Hobbs was 
chosen to the paftoracy in 1775, and was succeeded by John 
Savill in 1809. Savill resigned in 1830, when the Rev. 
Henry March, who had previously been his assistant, became 
his successor. Mr. March removed in 1839, an< ^ was suc ~ 
ceeded by the present minifter in 1841.* 

The first paftor of the Baptist church in Moor Lane, of 
whom there is any record, was John Hammond, who died 
about 1694, and was succeeded by Cornelius Rayner. Rayner 
died in 1708, and was succeeded by John Vicars, and Vicars, 
it should appear, by John Rootsey. The original meeting- 
house in Moor Lane was now built. In 172 1 a secession 
took place. Their first pastor was John Dunthorn, who died 
in 1756. In 1738-9, the divided church was reunited. Dun- 
thorn was succeeded by Thomas Eisdell, who died in 1772, 
and Eisdell by Thomas Stevens, who died in June, 1802. He 
was succeeded by George Pritchard, who removed in 18 12, 
when the Rev. George Francis became the pastor. Francis 
was succeeded by the Rev. C. T. Rust, who conformed, and 
is now incumbent of St. Michael, at Thorn, Norwich. Mr. 
Rust was succeeded by the Rev. Robert Langford, the present 
paftor. t 

* A Brief Hiftory of the Independent f Morison and Blackburn MSS. 

Church in the Lion Walk, by J. A. 
Tabor. 1 86 1. 



George Downe, John Clark, John Bigley. 377 

Colchester, Lexden. — George Downe. Morant says that 
George Downe was minister here in 1657, assigning the Rate 
Book as his authority. It is possible that he may have been 
affistant to John Nettles. In the report made to Sheldon in 
1669, Downe is mentioned as having a conventicle at Col- 
chefter in connection with Owen Stockton.*" 

Colne Engaine. — John Clark. He succeeded to the 
rectory on the death of Thomas Brackley. The Rev. Dr. 
Greenwood, the present rector, kindly informs me, from the 
parifri regifter, that Brackley died February 15, 1652, and, 
from an entry made by a contemporary on the fly-leaf of the 
regifter, that John Clark began his miniftry on the 25th May, 
1653, and refigned upon the AcT: of Uniformity, 24th August, 
1662. The admiffion of his succeflbr is entered in Newcourt 
c 13th' November, 1662, per resig. Clarke.' Calamy has 
nothing more than his name, f 

Colne White. — John Bigley. The curacy had been 
sequeftered from Robert Guyon about 1644. Depofitions 
were taken against Guyon 4th of April, 1644, when two wit- 
nefTes swore that ' he is at times supposed to be diftempered in 
his braine, e. g. said several times in the pulpit' (the fact is 
unfit for publication) ; two, that c at a baptism he read part of 
the service for matrimony, and then baptized the child ;' the 
evidence of two others is also unfit for publication ; two, that 
1 rayling on his people because some left the church in dudgeon, 
he said it was enough for a congregation of clowns ;' two, that 
' on Easter day, instead of the confefiion, he read the prayer 
before sacrament, and then went into the pulpit and chose the 
officers, and then bad Master Cooper set a psalm.' Other 
evidence was also given ; and four deposed that c he often 
neglected the fasts, and in last August preached his farewell 

* P. 369; Mor. Col. Lambeth MSS. sius Wakering and William Harlackenden, 

39; Returns of 1669, p. 344. Juftices, so called, took and drove away 

f. Cal. Ace. 307 ; Cont. 476 j N. ii. from him Cattell worth ^So.' A Word 

188. 'John Clark, Priest, for £20 of Reproof by E(dward) B(urroughes), p. 

Tithes by him demanded of Robert Nicol, 79. Lond., 1659. 4to. 
of Colne Enguine, by warrant from Diony- 



378 John Bigley, Robert Thompson, John Yardley. 

sermon, and never since, even by proxy.' Bigley did not suc- 
ceed immediately ; nor was he there until after 1650, as at 
that date the return is, £ noe minister.' Calamy says, c this was 
a donative that could not be taken away, and so he continued 
in it ; but he was, as I am informed, as truly a Nonconformist 
as any that left their livings/ But, on the 13th of May, 1672, 
he was licensed ' to be a preacher in any allowed place.' I 
take this to be decisive as to his avoidance of the curacy. 
It is remarkable, however, that a John Biggin, alias Bigley, 
was curate in 1700.^ 

Copford. — Robert Thompson. He was admitted to the 
rectory January 24, 1638, on the presentation of Charles I., 
having been collated to the prebend of Wildland, in the 
cathedral of St. Paul's, seven years previously. His name 
appears on the 'Classis.' He was ejected under the Act of 
Uniformity, and appears to have died immediately afterwards, t 

Cranham. — John Yardley. We first meet with him at 
Sheering, where his name appears on the c Classis,' and also 
among the subscribers to the ' EfTex Teftimony' in 1648. The 
rectory of Sheering had been sequeftered from Stephen Withers, 
who was also rector of Kelvedon Hatch. The latter seques- 
tration is stated in the Parliamentry document often quoted in 
these pages, to have been made ' for that he - hath .... and 
divers others affirming it to be no sin ... . And hath not 
only practised altar worship, but urged his people to receive 
the Lord's Supper at the rails, and in his church read the book 
for prophanation of the Sabbath by sports, and will not suffer 
his people to have above one sermon on the Lord's day, though 
at their charges ; and hath expressed great malignity against the 
Parliament.' % 

Yardley was appointed here by an order of the House of 
Commons, December 30, 1643. He left Sheering shortly after 
signing the ' Teftimony,' and was succeeded by John Warde, 

* Cole MSS. xxviii. 23, 24; Lands. f Cal. Ace. 313 ; N. ii. 192; i. 227. 

MSS. 459 j Cal. Ace. 309 ; License J The omitted sentences are unfit for 

Book, S. P. O. p. 340 ; see also Owen publication. The First Century, 2. 
Stockton, p. 368. 



yohn Yardley, Richard Man. 379 

with relation to whom I am favoured with copies of several 
entries in the regifters, by the Rev. Edward Hill, the present 
rector of that parifh. Warde is reported in 1650 as, c an able 
preaching minister.' He conformed in 1662, and died before 
May, 167 1. 

The return for Cranham in 1650 is, c Robert Watson, by 
order of the Committee for Plundered Ministers, an able, godly 
minifter.' The Rev. C. Rew, the present rector of the parifh, 
obliges me with the information that there is a difference in 
the handwriting of the regifter in 1652. This is probably the 
date of the admission of Yardley. In that year also there in an 
entry of the burial of Ralph Yardley, October 8. Yardley 
was ejected under the Act of Uniformity. The admission of 
his successor is thus given in the MS. extracts from Juxon's 
register in the British Museum, 21st February, 1662(3) : 
'Jonathan Devoraux, M. A., per inconformitatem John 
Yardley, ult. incumb.' This shows Hardley in Newcourt to be 
a misprint. In 1672 (p. 340) there are entries of two houses 
in this parish being licensed to be Presbyterian meeting places, 
that of John Petchey and that of Phil. Pixon. The licenses 
bear date July 16. At the same date a license is also granted 
to ' John Yardley, of Weald, to be a Presbyterian teacher in 
any allowed place.' * 

D anbury. — Richard Man. His ejection refts on the 
authority of Calamy. But if he was ejected he muft have died 
immediately afterwards, as his successor is thus entered, not 
only in Newcourt, but in the MS. extracts from Juxon's 
regifter, among the Harleian MSS. : c 6th October, 1662, Gul. 
Ciutterbuck, S. T. B. per mort. nat. Richard Man.' The 
living had been sequeftered from Clement Vincent, ' for that he 
is a great practicer of the late illegal innovations, and doth not 
only encourage sports and playing on the Sabbath day before 
his own doore, but hath also been a practiser himself thereof, 
giving ill example thereby, and neglected the keeping of the 

* Cal. Ace. 314; Cont. 491 ; Jour. H. of C. iii. 355; Lands. MSS. 4595 
License Book, S. P. O. See p. 340. 



380 Richard Man, Matthew Newcomen. 

monthly fast, and inftead of fasting, suffered on the fast day 
foot-ball playing in his own ground, himself being a spectator 
thereof; and is a common drunkard and a common swearer; 
and hath exprefTed great malignity against Parliament.' The 
living was sequeftered to the use of John Chandler, who 
having relinquifhed the cure before June 13, 1646, it was 
sequeftered at that date to the use of c Richard Man, minister 
of the word.' The return in 1650 is, ' Richard Man, by 
sequeftration from Clement Vincent, an able preaching minis- 
ter.' It is clear that Vincent died before the restoration, and 
that Man was then regularly presented to the rectory, which 
was in the gift of Humphery Mildmay. If at all, Man would 
therefore have been ejected in August, 1662. Calamy con- 
founds him with John Man, of Rawreth. * 

Dedham. — Matthew Newcomen. He was a native of EfTex, 
probably one of the same family with Thos. Newcomen and 
Stephen Newcomen. He was educated at St. John's College, 
Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1625, and took his 
degrees, that of Bachelor in 1629, and that of Mafter in 1639. 
On the death of John Rogers, in 163 1, he was recommended 
by his friend, John Knowles, as his successor in the lecture- 
ship at Dedham, which was then, as it had been for generations, 
sustained by the voluntary contributions of those who attended 
it. Here his duty was to preach on the morning of every 
Tuesday, and in the afternoon of every Lord's day. He 
married Hannah, daughter of Robert Snelling, of Ipswich, and 
widow of Gilbert Raven, rector of St. Mary's Stoke, in that 
town. 

Newcomen soon more than justified the expectations he had 
encouraged during his University career, and proved a not 
unworthy successor of the venerable Rogers. He is frequently 
referred to in the first part of this volume. He was one of 
the Smeclymnians, a member of the Assembly of Divines, 
a frequent preacher before the House of Parliament, and 

* Cal. Ace. 3095 Cont. 485; The 4085 Harl. MSS. 61005 Lands. MSS. 
First Century, 36; Chandler, p. 357 ; 4595 Newc. ii. 2055 John Man, p. 270. 
Add. MSS. 15669, Feb. 6, 16445 15670, 



Matthew Newcomen. 381 

throughout the whole of the eventful period in which his lot 
was cast, second to but few of his brother minifters in cha- 
racter or influence. For such a man to declare c unfeigned 
assent and consent,' as required by the Act of Uniformity 
was impossible. He preached his last sermon at Dedham, as 
lecturer, August 20, 1662, on Rev. iii. 3. His concluding 
sentences were these : — c It was a good speech of a gracious 
woman, now with God, when Mr. Rogers was silenced, 
c Well,' said she, c by the grace of God the world shall never 
have those houres that I was wont to spend in hearing here- 
tofore,' her meaning was she would spend them in her closet 
in holy duties. It was an excellent resolution, and worthy of 
our imitation ; and if I might, after twenty-six years' labour 
here in the miniftry, now at my parting obtain this much of 
you, that you, that have been pleased to be conftant hearers 
here, would lay a law on yourselves, that so much time as you 
formerly spent in coming hither, sitting here, and in returning 
home, that ye will spend that time at home, either in praying 
and reading and meditating in your closets, or else in praying 
in and with your families, and inftruc"ting of them .... if I 
might obtain this of you .... I should believe that the 
devill and his kingdom would be losers by this our parting. 
And the last advice I have to give you is this, that you would 
still continue your reverence of and love to the Lord's holy 
sabbath .... and when you have not publick ordinances, and 
publick helps, for the sanctifying of the Lord's day at home in 
your own congregations, if you can have the word and ordi- 
nances in any comfortable manner abroad, I say travel for it; 
and when you have them not at home nor abroad, be so much 
the more earnest and fervent and abundant in your family and 
secret duties .... so do, and the blessing of God shall be on 
you all the week long.' 

Newcomen well knew that England was no longer safe for 
him. He therefore went over to Holland, but before he did so, 
he once more addressed his flock at Dedham, in a sermon on 
Acts xx. 32, which was afterwards publifhed. His last words 
were, ' I am now, by the providence of God, on the point of 



382 Matthew Newcomen. 

leaving not only you but the land, and I know not whether I 
shall see the face of this assembly any more. I would fain, 
before we part, commend ye to God, and leave you in the arms 
of His comforting mercy. O that I could thus commend you 
all .... I charge you that none of you dare to appear before 
me in the day of judgment in an unconverted condition .... 
O that God would make this last warning, this last charge, 
more effectual than a hundred others have been, that, as Samson 
slew more Philiftines at his death than in all his life, so I 
might be the happy instrument to save more souls at my 
departure from you than in all my life before.' On his arrival 
in Holland he was soon invited to become the pastor of a 
church at Ley den. 

Richard Cromwell also was now an exile in Holland, as were 
several others, and when the war broke out between England 
and that country, on pretence that the c fanatics ' who had fled 
from this country afforded facilities to the Dutch for acquiring 
intelligence to the prejudice of their countrymen, a clause was 
procured to be inserted in an act for attainting Thomas 
Doleman, Joseph Barneld, and Thomas Scot, of high treason, 
to the effect, ' That all and every person who now are beyond 
the seas, and whom his Majefty by any of his royal proclama- 
tions shall name and require to return to England by a certain 
day, and shall not return accordingly, shall stand attainted of 
high treason, and shall suffer such penalties as persons at- 
tainted of high treason ought to do.' Acting on this clause, 
on the 26th of March, 1666, the King issued a proclamation 
naming fourteen persons, and among them are Richard Crom- 
well, Sir Robert Honeywood, jun., and 'Newcomen, minister.' 
Nothing however came of this, as Newcomen was sufficiently 
on his guard. 

Soon after his death, John Fairfax, one of the best and 
nobleff of the ejected minifters, preached a funeral sermon for 
him at Dedham. The returns that were made to Sheldon in 
1669, thus refers to this : ' On the 16th of September last, ye 
occafion of the death of Mr. Newcomen, in Holland, an out- 
rageous conventicle was kept (at Dedham) and dangerous words 



Matthew Newcomen ^ George Smith. 383 

said to be there spoken by Mr. Fairfax, late minister of 
Barking, in Suffolk.' The sermon was afterwards publifhed 
under the title of ' The Dead Saint Speaking. A sermon 
preached upon the occasion of the death of that eminent man, 
Mr. Matthew Newcomen, sometime minifter of the gospel at 
Dedham, in EfTex, who dyed at Leyden ; wherein is sincerely 
discoursed, to a populous auditory in Dedham, what inftruc- 
tions are given and sealed to the living by the death of the 
righteous servant of God. By J. F., minister of the gospel.' 
London, 1679, 8vo. Heb. xi. 4. 

There are published of Newcomen's : 1. ' Irenicum ; ' 2. 
c A Sermon on Neh. ii. 4, 11.' Lond. 1642, 4to. ; 3. 'Sermon 
on Is. lxii. 6, 7.' 1643, 4to. ; 4. 'Sermon on Jofh. vii. 
10, 11.' 1644, 4to. ; 5. ' Sermon on Phil. i. 27.' 1646, 4to. ; 
6. 'Sermon on Heb, iv. 13.' 1647, 4to. ; 7. 'A Sermon 
preached at the Funeral (sic) of the Reverend and Faithful 
servant of Jesus Christ in the Work of the Gospel, Mr. Samuel 
Collins, pastor of the church at Braintree, in Essex.' Lond. 
1658, i2mo. ; 8. His ' Farewell Sermon at Dedham ;' added 
to the second and last collection of the late ' London Ministers' 
Farewell Sermons.' 1663, i2mo. This sermon was preached 
August 20 ; 9. ' Ultimum Vale ; or, the Last Farewell of a 
Minister of the Gospel to a beloved People. By M. N., M.A., 
late preacher of the Gospel to the Church of Christ at Dedham, 
in Essex, now to the Englifh Church at Leyden, in Holland.' 
Lond. 1663. * 

Dedham. — George Smith. He appears to have been of 
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and to have matriculated there 
in December, 16 19. He was admitted to the vicarage July 2, 
1 63 1, and was therefore contemporary with Newcomen. He 
was on the ' Classis,' and his name also appears among the sub- 
scribers to the 'Essex Testimony' in 1648, and to the 'Essex 
Watchword' in 1649. He is also mentioned by name in the 
Parliamentry return for 1650. He was ejected under the Act 

* Cal.Acc. 293; Cont. 457} Palmer Knowles, infra ; Baker, MSS. Harl. 7046, 
iil - 195 ; Tho. Newcomen, pp. 203, 227 ; 292; Athenjeum, Ap. 12, 1862 ; Fair- 
Stephen, p. 160 j Rogers, pp. 146, 148 $ fax, p. 365 5 Returns of 1669, p. 344. 



384 John Smith. 

of Uniformity, and appears to have died very shortly after- 
wards. * 

In 1697 Benjamin Colman, afterwards paftor of a church 
at Boston, in New England, preached at Ipswich and at 
Dedham on alternate Lord's days. The present meeting 
house was built in 1738. The first minister was James 
Davidson, who settled in 1739. He was succeeded, in 1746, 
by Samuel Philips; Philips by Thomas Bingham; Bingham 
by James Gayler, who died in 1782 ; Gayler by William 
Bentley Crathern ; and Crathern by the Rev. Robert Ashton, 
now one of the secretaries of the Congregational Union of 
England and Wales. Mr. Afhton resigned in 1832, and was 
succeeded by the Rev. John Trew, the present pastor, f 

Dunmow, Great. — John Smith. The vicarage had been 
sequestered from Joseph Crowther, who was admitted February 
8, 1639, and who also held the prebend of Brownswood, in the 
cathedral of St. Paul's, and, according to Walker, a fellowfhip 
at St. John's, Oxford. He seems to have been prominent 
in the civil disturbances of the times, and was one of those 
who fled to Charles II. when he escaped to the Continent. 
Timothy WoodrofFe, who afterwards ^removed to Hereford, 
immediately succeeded to the sequestration. August 4, 1646, 
the Committee for Sequestrations directed ^50 to be paid out 
of Great Dunmowe, sequestered from Lady Anne Lake, 'in 
increase of the maintenance of the minister of Great Dun- 
mowe.' The return for Dunmowe in 1650 is, c Mr. John 
Smith, a preaching godly minister, by sequestration from Mr. 
Crowther.' I am favoured by my friend, the Rev. H. Gam- 
midge, who, through the courtesy of the present vicar, has 
had access to the parish books, with copies of several entries, 
in one of which Smith's name appears among those of the 
persons who ' did choose Samued Gentrie for to be register,' 
in April 1654. Smith was ejected under the act of 1660. 

Crowther did net return to Dunmowe, being better provided 
for. In 1648, he had been presented by Charles to the Greek 

* Cal. Ace. 295 ; Cont. 458 ; see f Morison and Blackburn MSS. 

Sam. Backler, infra. 



John Smith. 385 

lectureship in the University of Oxford ; this he now obtained. 
August 1, 1660, he was created D.D. of his University; on 
the 25th of that month he was admitted precentor of St. Paul's, 
and about the same time he was also made rector of the rich 
church of Tredington, in the diocese of Worcester. March 
7, 1 66 1, he was installed prebendary of Worcester, and the 
December following he was admitted principal of St. Mary's 
Hall, Oxford. In his latter days he was a prisoner in the 
Fleet, and while there he wrote c A Disquisition upon our 
Saviour's sanction of Tithes — Mat. xxiii. 23, Luke xi. 42.' 
Lond., 1685, 4-to. He died in the Fleet, December 16, 
1689, and was buried in the cathedral of St. Paul's. 

On the 28th of October, 1672, four houses were licensed 
to be Prefbyterian meeting houses at Great Dunmow, those of 
Matthew Pinchback, John Pettit, Thomas Burgess, and 
Daniel Watts. Pinchback's name also appears in the entry 
abovementioned, in April, 1654. After his ejection at Dun- 
mow, Smith removed to Caftle Hedingham, where he was 
silenced by the Act of Uniformity. Calamy says that c he 
was a very able, prudent, and judicious preacher.' * 

The labours of Smith were soon followed up by Jonathan 
Payne, who was ejected from the vicarage of Saffron Walden. 
The congregation then gathered met in a small building 
near the White Lion Inn. The first paftor, of whom 
any record survives, was John Mason, father of the well 
known author of the c Treatise on Self-Knowledge,' and 
grandfather of Mrs. Mordecai Andrews, of Coggefhall. On 
the removal of Mason to Spaldwick, in Huntingdonfhire, 
where he died in 1723, John Glascock became the minifter. 
In 17 16 the congregation is returned as containing four hundred 
persons, fifty-eight of whom had votes for the county. Glas- 
cock was succeeded by Fereby, Fereby by John Underhill, 
and Underhill by Thomas Doughty, who removed to Finching- 
field and Stebbing, in 1724. The present chapel was erected 
in 1728. William Feeton became paftor in 1733, and was 

* Cal. Ace. 306; Walker ii. 50; Newc. i. 102; Wood, Fast. ii. 1355 
Add. MSS. 15670, 3305 MSS. S. P. O.; License Book, S. P. O. p. 340. 

E E 



386 Martin Holbeach. 

succeeded in 1754, by Samuel Beldham; Beldham, in 1759, 
by Aaron Wickens ; Wickens, by Richard Frost ; and Frost 
by the present minifter, the Rev. H. Gammidge. * 

Easter, High. — Martin Holbeach. He was originally 
master of the grammar school at Felfted, to which post he 
was appointed in 1627. He continued at Felfted until 1649, 
when he resigned. During his mastership the school enjoyed 
a high reputation. Four sons of Oliver Cromwell were edu- 
cated there, and under Holbeach — Robert, baptized October 
13, 1621, died at Felsted,and is buried there; Oliver, baptized 
February 6, 1622, who was killed early in the civil war, and 
of whose death the Protector said, on his death-bed, c It went 
to my heart like a dagger, indeed it did ;' Richard, born Octo- 
ber 4, 1646, who afterwards succeeded his father; and Henry, 
baptized January 20, 1647-8, died March 1673-4, at Spirmey 
Abbey, near Wicken, in Cambridgefhire, and was buried in 
the chancel there. Several of the pupils of Holbeach greatly 
diftinguiihed themselves as scholars and divines, among them, 
the well-known Isaac Barrow, and John Wallis, professor of 
geometry at Oxford, one of the most learned and able men of 
his age. Wallis makes a very graceful reference to Holbeach 
in his autobiography, which Thomas Hearne publifhed in the 
appendix to his preface to Peter Langtoft's Chronicle, printed 
in 8vo., 1725. 

Holbeach seems to have removed to High Eafter imme- 
diately after he resigned the masterfhip at Felfted, as the return 
for that parish in 1650 is, c Mr. Holbeach, a very godly and 
able divine.' After his ejectment he returned to Felfted, 
where he died. He was buried in Felsted churchyard, where 
there is a tombstone to his memory. My friend, the Rev. H. 
Gammidge, of Dunmow, favours me with a copy of the fol- 
lowing entry in the parish register at Felfted : 'Mrs. Lydia 
Holbeach was buried in woolen, and affidavit brought, 15th 
April, 1682.' Holbeach was succeeded at Eafter by 
Timothy Claie. f 

* Morison and Blackburn MSS. ; i. 92 } Note, Mor. ii. 42 1 j Claie, Wick - 
Dunmow Church Books. ham Bifhops, infra, 

f Cal. Cont. 484 ; Carlyle, Cromwell 



John Harper. 387 

Epping. — John Harper. The vicarage had been sequestered 
from Thomas Holbeach, who succeeded Rochefter, the suc- 
cessor of Jeremy Dyke. According to Walker, Holbeach 
had been previously deprived of his fellowship in Emmanuel 
College, Cambridge. The immediate successor of Holbeach 
was Henry Wilkinson. We first meet with Harper at 
Nazeing, in this county, where we find him on the c Classis/ 
and also signing the 'Essex Teftimony,' in 1648. The Rev. 
H. L. Neave, the present vicar of Epping, informs me, from 
the parish regifter, that Harper came to that parish in 1648. 
In 1650 the return for Epping is, c Mr. Harper, by order 
of the Committee for Plundered Minifters, an able, godly 
preaching minister, in the vicarage.' Calamy says that Harper 
conformed after his ejectment, and also that his name was 
Thomas, which last is clearly a mistake. Holbeach was 
restored in 1660. He was afterwards, August 23, 1660, col- 
lated to the prebend of Hoxton, in the cathedral of St. Paul's; 
and August 2, 1662, he also had conferred upon him the 
rectory of St. Augustine, in the city of London. He was 
further made master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He 
died before November, 1680. * 

The gospel had been far too deeply rooted in Epping, 
especially under such ministries as those of Dyke, Wilkinson, 
and Harper, for it not to survive the severities that followed the 
Act of Uniformity. The church at Epping being situated 
about a mile and a half from the town, at a very early date a 
chapel-of-ease was erected for the convenience of the inhabi- 
tants. This chapel was from the first a free chapel, without 
the cure of souls, and was early endowed for the maintenance 
of divine service. In the year 1573, lt was sett ^ e( l m trustees 
for the public use, and has so continued ever since. In 16 15, 
six years after the admission of Dyke to the vicarage of the 
parish, George Campion bequeathed this chapel, c a close in 
the parish of Theydon Boys, half of the yearly rent of which 



* Cal. Ace. 3165 Walker ii. 294, 264; Lands. MSS. 459 j Ncwc. i. 1645 see 
ante, p. 280. 

E E 2 



388 Epping. 

was to be given towards the maintenance of a preacher there, 
and the other half to the poor of Epping town-side.' In 1622 
a new aisle was added to the chapel. As this was also during 
the ministry of Dyke, it is probable that it is to this that he 
refers in the epistle dedicatory to his Worthy Communicant, 
which is addressed to the c Right Honourable Lord Thomas, 
Earl of Winchelsea, and to the Right Honourable the Lady 
Cecile, Countess of Winchelsea, his most pious consort. 
Then do great ones bless their houses when among other 
things they be like the nobles of Israel. Those nobles had 
their staves, which haply they bore in their hands as ensignes 
of their nobilitie. Now they made those staves, which 
were the ensigns of their honour, the instruments also of 
common good; the princes digged the well, the nobles of the 
people digged it with their staves.' The Earl of Winchelsea 
was a grandson of Sir Thomas Heneage. The aisle was 
added in the very year in which the earl sold the manor of 
Copfield Hall to Lord Crenfield. During the continuance of 
Dyke in the parish, we may well be sure that whoever oc- 
cupied the chapel was a man like-minded with himself. 
Some time between 1638 and 1650, a malting, situated on the 
site of the present chapel, appears to have been purchased, and 
a meeting house erected there, though under what auspices 
does not diftincSlly appear. This place would naturally be 
closed during the severities that followed the Act of Uni- 
formity, even if it had not been disused before. Epping was 
one of the spheres of labour occupied by Nathaniel Ball, but he 
preached in his own house there in 1672. Nor does the 
chapel appear to have been in use by any one else at that 
date. June 11, of that year, the house of Richard Haylies 
was licensed to be a Congregational meeting place. * 

The first paftor, of whom any record survives, was John 
Nettleton, who married a daughter of Philip Doddridge, and 
removed from Epping to Ongar in 17 18. The records are 
then defective until the acceffion of Zechariah Hubbard in 

* Mor. i. 48, 52; see Ball, infra j Licenses, 1672, p. 



Nathaniel Ranew. 389 

1755. Hubbard was succeeded by Peter Good in 1759; and 
Good, in 1770, by Samuel Saunders, during whose paftoracy, 
the church erected its present place of worship. William 
Evans Bifhop succeeded in 1780; then, Brown, who was suc- 
ceeded by James Gill; Gill, in 1800, by William Saunders; 
Saunders by Jones ; Jones by Mufton ; Mufton by Joseph 
Alcot; Alcot, in 1833, by Stephen Banister; Banister, in 
1841, by Josiah Chapman ; Chapman, in 1843, by G. D. 
Mudie ; Mudie, in 1848, by Samuel Chancellor; and Chan- 
cellor, in 1854, by the Rev. John Teesdale Davis, the present 
paftor. * 

Felsted. — Nathaniel Ranew. He was of Emmanuel Col- 
lege, Cambridge. When he left the Univerfity he became 
minister of St. Andrew Hubbard, Little Eastcheap, London, 
the rectory of which seems to have been sequeftered from 
Richard Chambers. It is singular that Palmer should give the 
name of the sequestered rector as Ranew. Ranew was insti- 
tuted to the vicarage of Felsted under a Parliamentry order, 
dated February 29, 1647, on tne presentation of c Robert, Earl 
of Warwick ; Edward, Earl of Manchefter ; John, Lord 
Roberts ; Stephen Marshall ; Edward Calamy ; and Obadiah 
Sedgwick, patrons ;' f the living being void by the death of the 
last incumbent, Samuel Wharton. His name appears among 
the subscribers to the ' EfTex Testimony,' in 1648, and to the 
'Watchword' in 1649. He is reported of in 1650, as 'an able, 
godly minifter.' He was ejected under the Act of Uniformity. 
After his ejectment, Ranew removed to Billericay, but not 
without leaving traces of his teaching and his influence behind 
him at Felfted. In 1668, as appears from the Visitation 
Book of the Archdeaconry, William Porter, senior, and, Porter, 
junior, were cited for ' having private meetings, or con- 
venticles, in their houses, and frequenting such meetings in 
other houses;' and John Saville, the churchwarden, was also 
cited for ' not properly doing his duty as churchwarden.' There 

* Epping Church Documents, com- + Journal H. of Commons, 

municated by the Rev. J. T. Davis. 



39° Billericay. 

is this note in the margin of this last entry : c There have been 
divers conventicles at the said Saville's house.' 

April 30, 1672, Ranew took out a license to be a Prefby- 
terian teacher in the house of ' Mr. Finch, in Billericay,' and. 
the same day another was taken out for the house to be a 
4 Prefbyterian meeting house.'' December 10, of the same year, 
a similar license was also taken out for the house of Reginald 
Sumner. According to Calamy, Ranew died within the year, 
and at Billericay ; he adds, c he was a judicious divine and a 
good hiftorian, which made his conversation very pleasing. He 
was well beloved by the late Earl, Charles, and the Countess 
of Warwick, who allowed him twenty pounds per annum 
during life ; indeed he was generally efteemed and loved/ He 
publifhed a volume of 382 pages, entitled c Solitude Improved 
by Divine Meditation, first intended for a person of honour, 
and now printed for general use.' Lond., 1670. It is dedicated 
to Charles, Earl of Warwick ; Edward, Earl of Manchester ; 
and John Roberts, Lord Truro ; and has a prefatory epistle 
addreffed to Mary, Countess of Warwick. 

It is probable that it was after the death of Ranew that 
Edward Keightley preached here. A meeting house was 
erected in 17 14, toward which the Barrington family, of Little 
Baddow, are said to have contributed the materials. Thomas 
Jackson, of whom Lauchlan Ross relates, in 1725, that c he 
preached powerfully and excellently well,' was paftor in 17 16. 
At this date the congregation is returned as having thirteen 
persons who had votes for the county, and eleven who are 
described as 'gentlemen,' among its members. The next 
paftor, of whom there is any record, was Robert Glass, who 
was there in 1741. Glass was succeeded by Philip Davis. 
Richard Fry was paftor in 1785, and on his removal, in 1798, 
he was succeeded by John Thornton. Since the death of 
Thornton the succeffion of paftors has been as follows : Edward 
Dewhirst, the Rev. B. H. Kluht, the Rev. E. Davis, and the 
Rev. H. Jameson. * 

* Cal. Ace. 300; Cont. 460; N. i. Book, p. 340; Returns of 1716, p. 3535 
265 j Lands. MSS. 459; S. P. O. License Morison and Blackburn MSS. 



Thomas? Constable, Hugh Glover. 391 

Fering. — Thomas f Constable. The vicarage had been 
sequeffered from Robert Senior, ' for that he is a common 
frequenter of ale-houses and commonly drunke, and hath been 
admonifhed by his ordinary for it, and yet hath not left it ; and 
was for his continuance therein suspended by the ordinary, and 
yet perfisted in the same ; and commonly marries any manner 
of person even without license; and of the monthly fast said, 
he wondered who devised it, and swore by his Maker that he 
would preach no more on it, and hath expressed great malig- 
nancy against the Parliament, and great affection for the 
cavaliers and army raised against the Parliament, as more 
suitable to his spirit.' John Okeley appears as minister of 
Fering on the 'Classis.' In 1650 the return is, c no minister.' 
The Rev. R. Drummond, the present vicar, informs me that 
there are no traces of either Okeley or Constable in the parish 
registers. * 

Finchingfield. — Hugh Glover. He was a native of Leices- 
tershire, and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where 
he took the degree of Bachelor in 1630, and that of Master in 
1634. Baker says that he both times subscribed the ' three 
articles.' From the minutes taken at the examination of 
Thomas Wilson, f we find that the parishioners of Debden 
'desired Mr. Glover, of Finchingfield.' It therefore should 
appear that his first settlement was as curate to Stephen 
Marshall, whom he afterwards succeeded. The desire of the 
parishioners at Debden was complied with, as we find Glover 
on the 'Classis.' He also signed the 'Essex Testimony' as 
minister of Debden, in 1648, and is reported of, in 1650, thus : 
' Hugh Glover, by sequestration from Thomas Wilson, a godly 
and able divine.' At that date, according to the same authority, 
Stephen Marshall was the vicar of Finchingfield. 

Marshall was a native of Godmancherter, near Huntingdon. 
He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. On 
leaving the University he became private tutor to a gentleman 
in Suffolk. He came into Effex on the death of Richard 

* Cal. Ace. 308 } Cont. 478 ; The says Senior was sequeftered for his loyalty ! 
First Century, p. 34. Newcourt ii. 260, f Ante, p. 228. 



392 Stephen Marshall. 

Rogers, whom he succeeded in the lecturefhip at Wethers- 
field. * Here the people are said to have presented him with a 
library of the value of ^50, as an expression of the esteem in 
which they held his person and his ministry. On the death of 
Thomas Pickering he removed to Finchingfield. In 1629 he 
signed the petition in favour of Thomas Hooker, as rector of 
that parish, f About the date of his settlement here, he 
married a widow of considerable fortune, who was Elizabeth, 
the daughter of John Dutton, of Dutton. From the date of 
his settlement at Finchingfield, until 1640, we hear but little 
of him, except that, in 1632, Aylett reports him as 'conform- 
able.' J But in that year he acquires a prominence which he 
retained until his death. In common with many others of the 
more influential among the ministers, he took a somewhat 
active part in the election of 1640 ; and for several years after- 
wards no name is much more conspicuous in the annals of the 
great conflict with Charles and the prelatifts than that of Stephen 
Marshall. March 25, 1642, there is the following entry in the 
Journals of the House of Commons : c The humble petition of 
Sir Robert Kemp, Knight (of Spains Hall, who was knighted 
in August, 1 641), patron of the parish church of Finchingfield 
was read, concerning their desire to retain Mr. Marshall, their 
pastor, among them, recommended by this House at the desires 
of the parishioners at St. Margaret's, Westminster, to be their 
lecturer.' But notwithstanding that the House rejected the 
petition, Marshall did not leave the vicarage. He was one of 
the writers of the celebrated treatise published under the author- 
ship of S me &.y mn us 5' one of the first thought of as a fit person 
to be of the Assembly of Divines ; and one of the mofr. frequent 
preachers before, and most trusted counsellors and agents of, the 
Parliament throughout the unhappy civil war. To trace the 
whole of his career, would be, in great part, to write the hiftory 
of the entire conflict. He was on the EfTex ' Classis ' as well as 
Letmale also, who would seem to have been his assiftant. In 
1650 the return for Finchingfield is, 'Stephen Marshall, an 

* Ante, p. 109. f Ante, p. 155. % Ante, p. 172. 



Stephen Marshall. 393 

able, godly preaching minister, is vicar.' In that year, by deed 
dated 20th February, he gave c a messuage and tenement with 
appurtenances, and Boyton meadow, containing three acres, 
amounting then to 40s. a year, to be distributed in wood to the 
poor at Lady-day and Michaelmas.' About the same time he 
also settled ' Great Wingey, a nominal manor, for charitable 
uses, and particularly for the lecture of the town of Withers- 
field.' He died in 1653, and was buried on the 23rd of that 
month in the south aisle of the collegiate church at West- 
minster. After the restoration (September 12, 1661), his body, 
together with those of Elizabeth, the mother, and Lady Clay- 
pole, the daughter of Oliver Cromwell ; William Twisse, 
prolocutor of the Assembly of Divines ; William Strong, 
preacher in the Abbey ; and Thomas May, were taken up and 
cast into a pit 'at the back door of the prebendary's lodgings.' 
The great Blake's body was also taken up on the same occasion, 
but that was buried in the churchyard of St. Margaret's. There 
were publish of Marshall's : 1. 'Sermon on 2 Chron. xv. 2.' 
Lond. 1640, 4to; 2. 'Fail: Sermon. 5 Lond. 1641, 4to. ; 3. 
'Thanksgiving Sermon.' Lond. 1641, 4to. ; 4. 'A Sermon on 
Judges v. 2, 3.' Lond. 1641, 4to. ; 5. ' Sermon on Psalms 
exxiv. 6, 7, 8.' Lond. 1641, 41:0. ; 6. ' Sermon on 2 Kings 
xxiii. 25, 26.' Lond. 1642; 7. ' Sermon on Reformation and 
Desolation.' Lond. 1642, 4to. ; 8. ' Relation of the Battle 
near Kingston.' Lond. 1642, folio; 9. Thanksgiving Sermon.' 
Lond. 1642, 4to. ; 10. ' A Copy of a Letter written by him 
for the necessary vindication of himself and the miniftry.' Lond. 
1643, 4to. ; 11. 'A Letter of Spiritual Advice.' Lond. 1643, 
4to. ; 12. Thanksgiving Sermon.' Lond. 1644, 4to. ; 13. 'The 
Church's Lamentation for the good man's loss ; a funeral ser- 
mon for John Pym.' 1644, 4to. Prefixed is a portrait of Pym; 
14. 'Sermon.' Lond. 1646, 4to. ; 15. 'Sermon.' Lond. 1647, 
4to. ; 16. Defence of Infant Baptism, in answer to Mr. 
Hornlie's two treatises concerning it.' Lond. 1646,410.; 17. 
'Sermon.' Lond. 1648, 4to. ; 18. 'Apology for the Seques- 
tered Clergy.' 1649,410.; 19. 'Sermon.' Lond. 1653, 4to. * 

* Brooks Lives iii. 241, 379. 'The godly man's legacy to the Saints upon 



394 Hugh Glover. 

In 1654, Glover was appointed one of the ministerial as- 
siftants to the county commissioners for scandalous minifters. 
His name frequently appears in the parish documents of his 
time. After his ejectment he remained for some time at 
Finchingfield. In 1668 ? one John Marmall was presented 
to the archdeacon, for 'not coming to divine service and sermon, 
preached in the parish church on Sundays and holidays, ap- 
pointed by law, and for not receiving the sacrament at Easter 
last ; ' and at the same date, one Margaret Warde was excom- 
municated for similar offences. In 1669, Glover, who is then 
described as of Finchingfield, is reported to Sheldon as having 
a 'conventicle' there. On the passing of the Conventicle Act 
he removed to Bifhop's Stortford, where he still continued to 
exercise his miniftry, as May 2, 1672 (p. 340), we find him 
licensed to be a Presbyterian teacher in his own house, in that 
town, and as usual, a license was granted on the same day for 
it to be a Presbyterian meeting house. Calamy says that he 
died at Bifhop's Stortford of a consumption.* 

The little flock that used to gather round the Faircloughs 
at Sculpions, and the ' conventicle ' that adhered to Glover 
after his ejectment, evidently continued to meet after the re- 
moval of their teachers. The times were troublous, and the 
persecution they endured was severely trying, but as their 'day 
so' also 'was their strength.' Tradition states that when the 
storm was at its height, a congregation was accustomed to 
assemble in the dead of the night, and in the depth of winter, 
at Rivetts, a farm in that part of the parish which adjoins 
Stambourne, and there the devoted Henry Havers used to 
preach to them. In 1672, under date of May 2, we find the 
house of Thomas Matlock licensed to be a Prefbyterian meeting 

earth, exhibited in the life of that great Memorials i. 363, 377, 3795 ii. 48, no, 

and able Divine and painful labourer in 250,4175 Kennet, Regifter, 45 1 ; Mor. 

the Word, S. M., sometime, &c. Written ii. 370 — 372. 

by way of letters to a friend. Sic populus * Cal. Ace. 307 ; Cont. 474 ; Lands, 

vult decipi.' Lond., 1680. Newc. ii. MSS. 459 ; Lambeth MSS. 639 ; Re- 

265; Wood, Fast. ii. 315 Ath. ii. 38 ; turns of 1669, p. 345; Conventicle 

Jour. H. of C. ii. 497, 31 5 N. and Q. Act, p. 3445 License Book, S. P. O. 

Dec. 4 and Dec. 18, 1858 ; Whitelock p. 340. 



Finch ingfield. 395 

house. In 1704, we find a congregation here, the minister of 
which was John Barker, who preached to them for several 
years. Finchingfield was then associated with Castle Heding- 
ham; Barker preaching at the former place two Lord's days, 
and at the latter on the third, during the whole period of his 
ministry. He removed to Colchefter in 1707, and having 
remained there for some time, he first succeeded Matthew 
Henry, at Hackney, and subsequently became one of the 
minifters at Salter's Hall. The succeffor of Barker, at Finch- 
ingfield, was Isaac Fuller, who had been private chaplain to 
Paulett Warne, of Badmondisfield Hall, Wickham Brook, 
Suffolk. During his miniftry the congregation enjoyed a great 
degree of prosperity. It is returned in 17 16 as containing 
four hundred persons, twelve of whom are said to have had 
votes for the county, and ten of whom are described as c gen- 
tlemen.' Fuller resigned in November, 1724. He was then 
succeeded by Mr. Doughty, of whom a contemporary speaks 
as a 'good man and an excellent preacher.' Finchingfield now 
seems to have been associated with Stebbing, which connection 
continued until the death of Doughty, in 1755. A Mr. Grif- 
fiths succeeded him, who removed to Hitchin in 177 1, about 
which time Daniel Mann became the minifter. Thus far the 
congregation had assembled in an hired building. It should 
appear that at the close of Mann's ministry this building 
had to be abandoned, and the congregation was for a time 
dispersed. In 1779, a meeting house was erected, and shortly 
afterwards a widow of the congregation, at her decease, en- 
dowed it with the whole of her little property, in aid of the 
maintenance of a minister. A son of Joseph Fuller, then 
paftor at Halfted, now became the minister, but shortly left 
and was succeeded by Thomas Spencer. In 1785, John 
Pickersgill succeeded ; after remaining there for twelve years, 
he removed to London, and the vacancy was filled up by the 
election of Joseph Houlfton, who continued from 1797 to 
February, 18 13. John Blackburn, one of the authors of the 
MSS. so frequently quoted in these pages, then became the 
pastor. On his removal to Pentonville, Blackburn was sue- 



396 Thomas Greggs. 

ceeded by the Rev. Thomas Bunter ; Bunter by the Rev. 
Robert Ferguson, now LL.D. 3 Ferguson by Henry Chriftie ; 
and Christie by the present paftor, the Rev. T. B. Sainsbury.^" 
Fingringhoe.- — Thomas Greggs. This vicarage had been 
sequestered from Joseph Long, who was also vicar of Great 
Clacl:on. Depositions were taken against him at Colchefter, 
April 1, 1644, when evidence was given that c he has two 
livings, and is now non-resident (at Fingringhoe) ; (is) cruel 
in exacting his tithes ; an innovater ; would not give the sacra- 
ment but to those who come up to the rails ; a common ale- 
house haunter, obscene in his discourse, and a usual swearer 
by his faith.' He did not, however, also lose the vicarage of 
Great Clacton, as we find him still there in July, 1645, and 
also in 1650, at which last date the return for that parish is, 
' Mr. Joseph Long is vicar.' In the ' True and exact relation of 
the several informations, examinations, and confeffions of the 
late witches,' already referred to more than once in these pages, 
there is the following account of the evidence given by Long 
against Anne Cooper, one of his parishioners, who was after- 
wards executed at Manningtree : — 'This informant saith that 
Anne, the wife of John Cooper, of Clacton aforesaid, being 
accused for a witch, confessed unto this informant that the said 
Anne was guilty of the sin of witchcraft, and that she hath had 
three black impes called by the name of Wynowe, Jesso, and 
Pano j and this informant saith, that the said Anne told him 
that once she cursed a colt of one William Cottingham's, of 
Clacton aforesaid, and the said colt broke his neck presently 
after, going out of a gate. And the said Anne further con- 
fessed unto this informant, that she offered to give her daughter, 
Sarah Cooper, an impe in the likeness of a grey kite, which 
impe (she) called Tom-boy. And this informant saith, that the 
said Anne, about twenty years since, falling out with Johan, 
the wife of Gregory Rous, of Clacton, sent one of her impes 

* License Book, S. P. O. 174315 of this information I am indebted, partly 

Baker's MSS. Notes on Calamy j Visita- to the Morison and Blackburn MSS., but 

tion Book of the Archdeacon ; Returns chiefly to my friend, the Rev. T^ B. 

of 1716, p. 353 . For the remainder Sainsbury. 



Fingringhoe. John Bulkley. 397 

to kill their daughter ; and that to his own knowledge, about 
the same time, the said child was strangely taken sick and 
languishing, within a short time she died.' Long recovered 
his vicarage of Fingringhoe at the restoration, and died at 
Clacton, as the Rev. J. Norton, the present vicar, kindly in- 
forms me, March 9, 1662. There is an inscription to his 
memory on a flat stone in the chancel of the parish church. 

Owen Reeve was the immediate successor of Long, at Fin- 
gringhoe, c a man never approved by the assembly.' He was 
therefore discharged June 20, 1666, and so also were the 
sequestrators who had put him in. The committee for the 
county then appointed new sequestrators, and on June 20, 
Thomas Lawson was elected to the vacancy. In July, Henry 
Tonstall, the son of Sir John Tonstall, of East Donniland, 
and the then patron of the living, petitioned for the union of 
the two parishes, in order to the better maintenance of an 
efficient ministry. This was accordingly done, and May 4, 
1647, tne House of Lords issued an order for the institution of 
Thomas Lawson to the rectory of Donniland, also on the 
presentation of Tonstall. Lawson continued to hold both 
livings until after 1650, when he removed to Denton. It 
should appear that it was then that Greggs succeeded to the 
sequestration at Fingringhoe. The Rev. C. Brettingham, the 
present vicar, obliges me with a copy of the entry of the 
baptism of Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Greggs, and 
Margaret, his wife, May 28, 1654. What became of Greggs 
after his ejectment, under the act of 1660, I have not been 
able to ascertain. * 

Fordham. — John Bulkley. This living was sequestered from 
John Alsop, who had been instituted July 3, 1633, but under 
what circumstances I have not been able to discover. Alsop's 
immediate successor was the celebrated John Owen, who was 
here in 1644, as appears from the examination of Cock, at 
St. Giles', Colchester. In May, 1646, there is the following 

* Cal. Ace. 3075 Cont. 4755 Cole 174; Lands. MSS. 459; N. ii. 2675 
MSS. xxviii. 85; Add. MSS. 15670, Long, ante p. 298; Tonstall, p. 2935 
232, 311, 385 ; Jour. H. of Lords xx. Lawson, infra. 



39 8 Fordham. 

entry in the minutes of the Committee for Plundered Ministers : 
' Whereas, the rectorie of the parish church at Fordham was, 
by order of this committee, sequestered from Mr. Alsopp to 
the use of Mr. Owen, who, upon report that the said Mr. Alsopp 
was deceased, hath accepted of the presentation of the church of 
Coggeshall, in the said countie, and is minister thereof, and in 
regard that it is not determined of the said Mr. Alsopp's death, 
and it is considered that he is yet living, this committee did, by 
their order of the 20th of May instant, upon the petition of 
divers of the said parish, for the settling of Mr. Richard Pulley 
in the said Mr. Owen his stead, order the said Mr. Owen to 
have notice thereof, to the end that the said committee might 
be satisfied whether he had left the same ; who appearing this 
day, this committee have left him to his election to return to 
the said chappell of Fordham, or to continue at Coggeshall. 
It is, therefore, ordered that the rectorie and profits thereof 
shall from henceforth stand sequestered to the use of the 
said Richard Pulley, who is required to officiate the cure 
of the said church as rector till further notice taken in the 
premises.' Pulley accordingly succeeded. It should appear 
that he was the son of Richard Pulley, of Leighs, by his first 
wife, Dorothy, and as his father officially acted under the county 
committee for sequestrations, his appointment would seem to 
have taken place under his influence. Walker's statement, 
that he was sequestered at Fordham, in 1644, is clearly wrong : 
nor is there any evidence of his having been sequestered at all. 
Indeed it is not likely that one who had passed the Assembly 
of Divines, and been appointed twice over by the committee 
themselves, would be the sort of person to be sequestered almost 
immediately after his institution. It is also to be observed, that 
not only was he of the c Classis,' but that, in 1648, he appears 
as one of those who subscribed the ' Testimony,' and as c minister 
of Fordham.' Pulley would seem to have removed here from 
Thundersley, as a Richard Pulley resigned that rectory before 
May 2, 1646. Pulley had left by 1650, and at that date, the 
Rev. E. Re Berens, the rector of Wickford, kindly informs me 
that the name of Richard Pulley appears in the parish register, 



John Buckley, 399 

as minister there. It also appears in the Lansdowne MSS., 
459, where he is described r as an c able, godly preaching 
minister.' The name again appears at Wickford, in New- 
court, in September, 1672. I should think it not improbable, 
that, certainly the Pulley of 1650, if not also the Pulley of 1672, 
is the Fordham minister. He returned, however, to Fordham 
before 1662.* 

It is clear that Bulkley succeeded Pulley, at Fordham. He 
was the son of Peter Bulkley, who held the living of Odehill, 
in Bedfordfhire, until he was driven into exile by Archbifhop 
Laud. The father of Peter was Edward Bulkley, D.D., who 
was his predecessor at Odehill. Peter was of good family, 
and possessed of a good eftate. He arrived in New England 
in 1635, and c there having been for a while at Cambridge, he 
carried a good number of planters with him up further into 
the woods, where they gathered the twelfth church then formed 
in the colony, and called the town by the name of Concord. 
He was a ripe scholar, and publifhed a series of sermons which 
he twice preached to his congregation, the second time at their 
request,' Zech. ix. 11, in a treatise entitled 'The Gospel 
Covenant,' which passed through several editions. Thomas 
Shepard thus speaks of the volume : c The church of God is 
bound to bless God for the holy, judicious, and learned labours 
of this aged, experienced, and blessed servant of Jesus Christ, 
who hath taken much pains to discover, and that not in words 
and allegories, but in the demonftration and evidence of the 
spirit, the great myftery of godliness wrapt up in the Covenant 
concerning the same, which happily have not been brought so 
full to light until now, which cannot but be of singular and 
seasonable use to prevent apostacies, from the simplicity of the 
covenant and gospel of Christ.' Peter Bulkley died March 
9, 1658-9, aged seventy-three. 

John was one of his nine sons. His mother was the 
daughter of Thomas Allen, of Goldingham, near Bedford, and 
aunt of Sir Thomas Allen, who was lord mayor of London. 

* Cock, ante, 224 $ Pulley, p. 270 ; Alsop, 349. 






400 Robert Davey ^ yosias Church. 

Two of his brothers were also ministers, Gerfhom and Edward. 
Edward succeeded his father at Concord, and died there. John 
was educated at Harvard College, where he took his degree of 
M.A., in 1642. After his ejection from Fordham, he retired 
to Wapping, where he practised physic for several years. He 
died at St. Catherine's, near the Tower, in 1689, at the age of 
seventy. It is remarkable that in the parish register, in which 
there are entries of the baptism of a son and also of a daughter 
of his, both in his own handwriting, Bulkley should call 
himself c hireling of the church at Fordham.' * 

Gestingthorpe. — Robert Davey. He was vicar, and had 
not long been in possession of the living. John Thorby 
appears as the minister among the subscribers to the 'EfTex 
Watchword' in 1649. The return in 1650 is, c Mr. William 
Beeman is presented to the redtory.' The return takes no 
notice of the vicarage. Davey was admitted September 11, 
1 66 1. The succeflion of John Isaac appears in Newcourt thus, 
c 15th January, 1662-3, P er inconform. ult. vie' f 

Hackwell. — yosias Church. Possibly the son of Josias 
Church who was instituted to the rectory of South Shoebury 
in 1 6 10. We first meet with him as rector of Afhingdon, 
to which living he had been presented by Robert, Earl of 
Warwick, and where he was admitted March 4, 1641. He 
resigned that rectory before the 5th of February, 1644, at 
which date he was succeeded by John Gibson. We then meet 
with him as minister at South Church, where we find him 
entered on the c Classis,' and also subscribing the c EfTex Watch- 
word.' This living had been sequestered from Walker Holmes, 
against whom depositions were taken at Maldon, April 16, 
1644. I* was P rove d that he ' was a pluralist, and non-resident 

* Add. MSS. 15670, 221 ; see also to N. E. He graduated at Harvard 

180. The date of Pulley's first appoint- College in 1655. New England Hist, 

ment to Fordham is May 2, 1646. Jour. and Gen. Regifter vii. 269; Farmer, 

H. of Lords viii. 291. For Pulley's pro- Genealogical Regifter of First Settlers in 

bable family I am indebted to Mr. King. N. E., 1829, p. 47. 

Mather, Hist. N. E. iii. 96; iv. 136; f Cal. Ace. 308; Cont. 475 N. ii. 

Cal. Ace. 311 5 Cont. 487 ; Walker vi. 211 5 Lands. MSS. 459. 
330. Gerfhom was born on the voyage 



Josias Church. Waters, of Hallingbury. 401 

at South Church, a favorer of innovations and a promoter of 
the bifhop's orders, and often distracted.' There are two entries 
relating to the sequestration, in the minutes of the Committee 
for Plundered Ministers, under the head of l Sea Church;' 
from the first of which it appears that it had taken place before 
February 26, 1645 ; and the second is to the effect that Holmes, 
c being incapable by affliction, and not a bad man, he and his 
are to have half the proceeds of the living for their mainte- 
nance.' I presume this to be the Holmes of whom Walker, 
without any indication of place, has the statement, c he was 
turned out, about 1664, for pluralities and non-residence.' The 
return for South Church, in 1650, is c ^120, out of it is payed 
^65. Mr. Josias Church, an able preaching minister, to Mr. 
Walker Holmes, the incumbent, but distracted.' 

At Hawkwell, Church succeeded Thomas Oresby, who 
was still there in 1655. The admission of Daniel Joyner 
there, February 11, 1662-3, 1S entered in the register of the 
diocese as c legit jam vacante.' Church publifhed c The 
Divine Authority of Infant Baptism; or, Six Arguments for 
the Baptism of Infants of Chriftians.' 4to., 1652. It is re- 
markable that his christian name should appear in the title 
page as John. The book is dedicated to Robert, Earl of 
Warwick, and has a recommendatory preface by Francis 
Roberts, minifter of the church at St. Augustine, London, and 
John Geree, minister at St. Faith's. * 

Hallingbury Little. — . Waters. The rectory had been 
sequeftered from John Fifh, or Fifher, as the name appears in 
the minutes of the Committee for Plundered Minifters. The 
living had been sequeftered before 1646 to John Wilson, who 
appears on the c Classis.' In 1647, Fifher had difturbed 
Wilson in the sequeftration, and he and the sequeftrators were 
ordered to appear before the county committee for their mis- 
conduct. Wilson appears among the subscribers both to the 
c EfTex Testimony,' in 1648, and the c EfTex Watchword,' 

* Cal. Ace. 310 ; Cont. 485; Cole 400; Walker ii. 264; Lands. MSS. 459; 
MSS. xxviii. 84} Add. MSS. 15670, 49, Harl. MSS. 6100 ; Oresby, ante p. 269. 

Joyner, infra. 

F F 



402 William Sparrow. 

in 1649. ^ e 1S a ^ so returned in 1650 as, c by order of the 
Committee for Plundered Ministers.' Waters appears to have 
been Wilson's succeflbr. "* 

Halsted. — William Sparrow. The vicarage had been se- 
queftered from John Webb, but at what date, or under what 
circumftances, I have not been able to ascertain. In the 
Parliamentary return for 1650 we have this entry, ' William 
Sparrow, by sequeftration from John Webb, an able, godly 
preacher.' Webb seems to have died before the reftoration, 
and Sparrow then to have been presented to the vicarage by 
the patron. He was one of the minifterial assiftants to the 
County Commissioners for Scandalous Minifters, and was one 
of the minifters who were difturbed at Coggeshall by James 
Parnell. He was ejected under the Act of Uniformity. His 
successor is given in Newcourt, as c per inconform. ult. vicar.' 
Calamy says of him, c He was a Norfolk man of good extrac- 
tion; bred at Cambridge. He was first awakened by the 
preaching of Mr. Stephen Marshall. He was early in de- 
claring for the Congregational way, and a great correspondent 
of Dr. Owen. He was a man of considerable learning and 
remarkable minifterial gifts. As much reputed through the 
country for a preacher as Mr. Rogers, of Dedham, had been 
some time before. He had a numerous auditory on Sabbath 
days, and kept up a weekly lecture on the market days, to 
which there was a general resort of the minifters and gentry 
of these parts. His miniftry was blessed of God to the con- 
verfion of many souls. He was noted for being very affable 
and courteous, and of a most genteel deportment. He died 
at Norwich.' f 

. A Congregational church is said to have been formed by 
Sparrow in the parochial edifice, which, after his ejectment, 
continued to meet in a barn, in the yard of the White Hart 
Inn. In the Archidiaconal Visitation Book, under date May, 
1670, I find that William Rayner, Elizabeth Mallet, widow, 

* Cal. Ace. 313 ; Add. MSS. 15671, f Cal. Ace. 305 3 Lands. MSS. 459 j 

19 ; July 15, 1647, 176 j Lands. MSS. Parnell, ante p. 319. 
459- 



Halsted. 403 

and John Flood, were cited for suffering persons to keep con- 
venticles in their houses. At the same date several others 
were cited for the same offence ; and in June, of the same 
year, Rayner was presented as having been excommunicated 
for his offence. There were several Baptists in the original 
church. These separated after a few years, and erected a 
place of worship in Hedingham Lane. About the same time 
the others also erected another on the site of the present old 
meeting house. In 17 16, the congregation is returned as 
containing five hundred persons ; thirty-nine of whom are 
described as having votes for the county, and thirteen as 
'gentlemen.' The first pastor, of whom any record remains, 
is William Holman, whose extensive collections for a history 
of Essex, afterwards fell, by purchase, into the hands of Philip 
Morant, and constitute by far the most valuable part of his 
well-known volumes. He was a member of the church at 
Stepney, whence he was dismissed to Halsted in 1700. He 
died suddenly in the porch of Colne Engaine church, 
Nov. 4, 1730. Holman was succeeded by Samuel Manning, 
who removed to Halsted from Suffolk about midsummer, 
1 73 1, and died soon afterwards. Manning was succeeded by 
Shaen, Shaen by Spurgeon, and Spurgeon by Samuel Stort, 
who removed to Halfted from Wymondfham, in Norfolk, in 
1748. The next paftor was Joseph Field, who settled in 1756, 
and died in 1791, and was succeeded by James Bass, who died 
in 1829. After the death of Bass, John Savill removed here 
from Colchefter ; on his resignation, three years afterwards, he 
was succeeded by Thomas Quinton Stow, who emigrated to 
Adelaide, South Australia, where he recently died. Stow was 
succeeded by the Rev. E. Prout, at present one of the secre- 
taries of the London Missionary Society; Mr. Prout by the 
Rev. H. R. Reynolds, B.A., now president of Chefhunt 
College, Herts ; Mr. Reynolds by his father ; John Reynolds 
by the Rev. J. R. Dothie ; and Mr. Dothie by the present 
paftor, the Rev. S. S. England.* 

* Returns of 171 6, ante p. 353 ; Holman, Cole's MSS. x. 20; and Blackburn MSS. 

F F 2 



404 Richard Cardinal^ "John Warren. 

Hanningfield South. — Richard Cardinal. He was 
probably one of the Great Bromley family. He was for- 
merly at West Horndon. According to Walker, that living 
had been sequeflered from Simon Jackaman, who was also 
rector of Gingrave. As Jackaman died soon after the 
sequeftration, Cardinal was regularly presented to the living 
9th October, 1643. His inftitution is entered in Newcourt 
as 'per mort. Jakman.' While at Horndon he was chosen 
on the 'Classis.' He also signed the 'Essex Teftimony/ 
in 1648, and the 'Essex Watchword,' in 1649. He was 
still there in 1650, when he is returned as 'a godly preaching 
minifter.' 

I cannot ascertain the date of Cardinal's settlement at 
Hanningfield. He appears to have succeeded John Fewaker, 
who is thus returned in 1650: — 'The inhabitants approve of 
him ; put in by the Parliament.' The rectory had been 
sequeflered from one Wiseman, of whom I have not been able 
to find any traces. His immediate successor was a Mr. Norton, 
who seems to have been succeeded by Fewaker. August 10, 
1672, the house of ' Widdow Suttle,' and also the house of 
one Hodge, were licensed as meeting houses. * 

Hatfield Broad Oak. — John Warren. The vicarage 
had been sequeflered from Francis Parker, but at what date or 
under what circumftances, I have not been able to ascertain. 
Warren was born September 29, 1621. He was educated 
at Oxford, where he became M.A. In 1642 he came to 
London, intending to go abroad, but meeting with Sir Thomas 
Barrington, he was prevailed upon by him to go to Hatfield. 
He first settled there as a lecturer. Calamy tells us that, 
' when he had been there some time, the minifter of the 
place removing into Norfolk, the whole work devolved 
upon him.' It is probable that 'the minifter' was Warren's 
predecessor in the sequeftration, and that he had removed 
before 1646, as John Warren appears as minifter on the 

* Walker ii. 2815 N. ii. 282, 342; 1646; Lands. MSS. 459; Palmer ii. 
/.dd. MSS. 15670, 13, 37, Sept. 18, 201 $ License Book, ante 340. 



yohn Warren. 405 

' Classis.' In 1650, the Parliamentary return is, c Mr. John 
Warren, by sequeftration from Francis Parker, the present 
vicar. Mr. Warren is a godly, able preaching minifter.' He 
was one of the minifterial assiftants to the Commissioners for 
Scandalous Minifters in 1645. 'While he discharged the cure, 
he preached constantly three times a week at home, and took 
his turn in several other lectures which were kept up by a 
combination of ministers. There was also a monthly meeting 
of minifters in those parts, which he was the first promoter 
of, wherein there were disputations and Latin sermons, and 
determinations which right well became the divinity schools, 
or have entertained an archidiaconal auditory.' At what date he 
was ejected does not appear. His successor was a ' moderate 
man,' and ' Warren's good friend.' Warren was accuftomed 
to go to church to hear him, and afterwards to inftruct some 
few that came to him at his own house. He was the founder 
of the present church at Hatfield, which he formed in 1665. 
In 1690 he removed to Bifhop's Stortford, but still occasionally 
visited his own flock at Hatfield until his death, which took 
place in September, 1696. His funeral sermon was preached 
by Henry Lukin, and was afterwards publifhed, with a little 
treatise of Warren's prefixed to it, entitled c The Method of 
Salvation.' c He was a general scholar, had a great quickness 
of apprehension and clearness of thought, a large and retentive 
memory, a solid and sound judgment. He was an indefatigable 
student, and had an insight into almost all parts of useful 
learning. Though he was driven from his habitation as a 
difturber of the peace, and cited to the spiritual courts, and 
put to the trouble and charge of attending them, he was not 
at all exasperated ; he never spoke of his treatment with any 
heat or passion, or made the least reflection on the persons 
concerned in it; and if others at any time did it in his hearing 
he seemed uneasie under it, and discouraged them from it. 
He heartily forgave them and begged forgiveness of God for 
them. He was very charitable to man, and very submissive 
to the will of God in all his exercises. In short, he was a 
great man, a general scholar, an admirable Chriftian, a mirrour 



406 Thomas Ellis , Samuel Ely. 

of holiness, and a pattern, both to rninifters and Chriftians, 
living and dying.' * 

Warren was succeeded in the paftoracy of the church 
at Hatfield by James Small, who went there in 1691, 
and removed in 1704. He was succeeded by Thomas' 
Caudwell, and Caudwell by George Wiggett. In 17 16 the 
congregation is returned as containing three hundred persons; 
twenty-two of whom had votes for the county of EfTex, 
and one for the county of Herts. The present place of 
worfhip was erected in 1725. Isaac Henly was the parlor 
in 1766, and was succeeded in 1774 by Samuel Gaffee. 
Gaffee was succeeded by the present parlor, the Rev. Cor- 
nelius Berry, f 

Hempsted. — Thomas Ellis. The church here is a chapel- 
of-ease to Great Samford. Walker says that, c the sequeftered 
minifter of this parish was a very worthy man, as I have 
been informed, but I have not been able to recover his 
name.' There was no sequestration here. Samuel Newton, 
who was admitted to the vicarage October 23, 1634, was 
chosen on the c Classis,' and in 1650, he was still vicar, and 
so continued until his death, which took place before Sep- 
tember 13, 1683. The return for Hempfted in 1650 is, 
c Mr. Samuel Newton receives the profits and hires a curate, 
Mr. Thomas Ellis.' % 

Henham.— Samuel Ely. He probably succeeded Adiel 
Baynard. If Baynard's institution at Hadstock, January 23, 
1662, be the date at which he left Henham, Ely's stay here 
could not have extended over many months. Ely's successor 
is entered in Newcourt thus : c John Rous, 6th November, 
1662, per inconformitatem ult. vie' After his ejectment, Ely 
removed to Bifhop's Stortford, where he died in 1681. His 
burial is entered in the parish regifter thus, c Mr. Samuel Ely, 
M.A., some time vicar of Henham, in Essex, buried in the 

* Cal. Ace. 299; Lands. MSS. 459. J Cal. Ace. 3125 Walker ii. 236} 

Lukin, infra; Returns of 1716, 353. N. ii. 5155 Lands. MSS. 459. 

-f- Morison and Blackburn MSS. j 
Small, infra. 



Samuel Ely. 407 

church, December 14.' A letter of his to Matthew New- 
comen, of Dedham, dated September 6, 1662, was publifhed 
in an early volume of the Evangelical Magazine. He says, 
' That which we have feared is begun now to come upon us. 
I say begun, for I am apt to think this doth but lead the way to 
something more, and is but the dropping before the storm. 
But whatever it be, the Lord prepare us for it, and His will 
be done. Ministers and people here had a sad parting ; my 
congregation was affected beyond my expectation \ the like 

I hear of other places hereabouts Generally, those 

minifters that have hitherto stood out continue firm in this 
hour of temptation, some few only excepted. I shall continue 
in the vicarage, I hope, while my wife gets up again ; I bless 
God he upholds her spirit, that she is cheerful and willing 
to bear the cross with me, nor hath, in the least, solicited me 
to strain my conscience for the saving of my living. But 
it is sad to think of the condition of the people, to see the 
church door shut up one day after another, and none to break 

the bread of life to them The Lord hath already, since 

my exclusion from my place, given me some taste of His 
fatherly goodness and providence, which I look on as an 
engagement to a dependance on Him for the time to come. 
I wish I could bring my heart to say with that reverend man, 
Mr. Dodd, c I had as lief God should keep the purse as I.' 
.... The Lord strengthen faith in us, and help us by a holy 
conversation to stop the mouth of malice, and put to silence 
the ignorance of foolish men. So long as we have a good 
God, a good cause, and a good conscience, why should our 
faces look pale for threats of men ? I fear there is hot 
service behind j the Lord proportion our strength to whatever 
He calls us to, and so assist us by His grace, that we may 
not flinch nor faint in the day of adversity ! .... If we go 
through fire and water, so God be with us, we shall have no 
harm. Is. xliii. 2. He strengthens us with c all might unto 
all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.' Col. i. 11. 
.... How black soever the cloud be, I hope it will clear 
up ; c light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright 



40 8 Samuel Grossman. 

in heart.' .... The Lord keep us in a way of duty and 
dependance upon God, that we may believe and not make 
hafte, that we may not put forth our hand to iniquity, either 
seeking to decline danger by sinful compliance, or seeking 

deliverance in forbidden ways It is a comfort to me 

to hear that God pours out a spirit of prayer. The Lord 
keep it up, and purge us from the dross we have gathered, and 
God will in due time speak peace to his people. My wife 
and I remember our hearty love to you and Mrs. Lucas. The 
Lord in mercy reftore her health, and bless all yours. Pray 
for us. So I rest your affectionate friend and brother, S. E.' 
The present church at Henham was formed about the year 
1806.* 

Henny Little. — Samuel Crossman. He was the son of 
Samuel Crossman, of Monks Bradfield, in the county of 
Suffolk, and was B.D. of Cambridge. The date of his 
admission does not appear. The return in 1650 is, 'the 
church is fallen down ; no incumbent.' But the church 
appears to have been demolished long before this, and was still 
a preservative, though the rectory was a kind of sinecure, 
because there was no church Grossman's successor, John 
Cooper, 29th January, 1662 — 3, is given in Newcourt as 
succeeding, 'per inconform. Crossman.' After his ejectment, 
Crossman conformed again, and in 1683 he was rewarded with 
the deanery of Bristol. There was a broadsheet publifhed 
after his death under the title of 'The last Teftimony and 
Declaration of the Rev. Samuel Crossman, D.D., and Dean 
of Briftol, setting forth his dutiful and True Affection to the 
Church of England, as by law eftablifhed.' There is prefixed 
the following preface, by John Knight. ' It was this gentle- 
man's lot, among some others of his very loyal and orthodox 
neighbours, to fall under the lash and scandal of several 
reproaches wherein he was solicitous to clear himself, that 
next to the great work of making peace with God, the thing 
in the world that lay nearest his heart was the leaving of a 

* Ev. Mag. viii. 494 ; Baynard, ante pp. 284, 286 j Morison and Blackburn MSS. 



Samuel Grossman. Farnworth, of Hockley. 409 

good name behind him, which he thought could not better 
be attained than by the solemnity of the following declaration : 
It was his own proper act, signed by his own hand, and in 
delivering it over to the world in the very syllables that I 
received it, I reckon that I have done my duty.' The testi- 
mony, which is addressed ' To the right worshippful William 
Clutterbuck, Mayor, with the other worshippful and others 
my good friends and neighbours, the good citizens of Bristol/ 
concludes as follows : c Poor men, I fear they have scarce 
thoroughly considered the sad rise and hiftory of their present 
dissent from the church, with what indecent virulence these 
feuds began at Frankfort to the open offence of the magis- 
tracy there ; with what bitter contempt of their sovereign and 
chriftian authority they proceeded secretly to undermine and 
openly to threaten the government in Queen Elizabeth and 
King James his reign : with what base contentiousness .... 
they had leavened the body of the people in the reign of 
Charles I., of blessed memory, till they had inforced their high 
pretences of religion to bring forth the bloody monster of 
rebellion. I do pray them for the love of God, and as even 
they tender the true welfare of this church and state, that they 
would no longer continue fighters against God, but return to 
the Bifhop and Shepherd of their souls. January 26, 1683-4.' 
Crossman died 4th February, 1683, aged 59, and was buried 
in the south aisle of the cathedral church at Bristol. He 
published 1. 'The Young Man's Monitor, with an Epistle 
to the Reader, more particularly to Parents.' Lond. 1684, 
i2mo. 2. 'Two Sermons preached in the Cathedral Church 
of Bristol, 30th January, 1679, and 30th January, 1680/ 
Lond. 1680, 4to. 4. c An Humble Plea for the quiet rest of 
God's Ark.' A Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor of 
London, at St. Mildred's church, in the Poultry, February 5, 
1 68 1. Lond. 4to. * 

Hockley. — . Farnworth. There would seem to have been 
a sequeftration here. In 1650 the return is, c John Bolnest, 

* Cal. Cont. 492 ; Luttrell Colle&ion B. Museum; Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 730. 



410 Farnworthy of Hockley. Robert Dod. 

not by presentation from the Committee. He is a very idle, 
lewd, and drunken man.' In the Visitation Book of the 
archdeaconry, under date 17th September, 1662, the entry 
is, ' A. Adams, rect. vacat.' If Calamy be correct in identi- 
fying Farnworth with the minifter of that name referred to 
by Baxter, in his 'World of Spirits,' p. 107, this sufferer for 
conscience sake had ' come hither from New England, and 
dyed, as all about him said, of meer poverty, for want of 
warm cloaths, fire, and food, when the Act of Uniformity 
had beggared many into extreme necessity.' * 

In worth. — Robert Dod. Walker says that there was a 
sequeftration here, and that the sequeftered rector lived to be 
reftored ; but this is clearly a misstatement. Dod was brought 
up at the Weftminfter school, from whence he removed 
to Oxford, and was one of the numerous pupils of Joseph 
Alleine, under whom he derived great spiritual profit. He 
was ordained by Juxon, bishop of London, soon after the 
translation of Laud to Lambeth. Calamy says that, ' the 
bifhop declared to him that he was not for going high against 
the PrefbyterianSj but that others were of another mind.' 
Dod was admitted to the rectory of Inworth, it should seem, 
on the death of Ralph Wharton. I have been unable to 
ascertain at what date. The entry in Newcourt is clearly 
a misprint. After his ejectment Dod removed to Sible 
Hedingham. In 1669 he is reported to Sheldon as having a 
'conventicle' there. In 1672, under date of June 10, I find an 
entry of a license granted to him to be a Prefbvterian teacher 
in his house at Sible Hedingham, and under the same date 
there is an entry of a license to his house to be a Prefbyterian 
meeting place. He removed to Wethersfield, to take charge 
of the congregation there, at the death of John Cole. Dod 
died and w T as buried at Wethersfield.' f 

. Jenkyns was also silenced at Inworth. % 

* Cal. Ace. 312, 840; Cont. 998. p. 344; see Wethersfield, infra ; License 

f Walker ii. 281 ; Cal. Ace. 308 ; Book, S. P. O. ante p. 340. 

Cont. 4775 Lands. MSS. 459; Wharton, J Cal. Ace. 313. 

ante p. 155, 294; Returns of 1669, ante 



John Willis. 411 

Ingatestone. — John Willis. He was admitted to the 
rectory June 19, 1630. Calamy supposes Newcourt to 
identify him with the vicar of Hockley in 1619, but as the 
ejected of Ingateftone became pastor of a church at Wapping 
about the year 1680, and was then c a very acceptable and 
popular preacher,' the identification is clearly an error. He 
appears on the ' Classis,' and also among the subscribers to 
the c EfTex Teftimony' in 1648. He is returned in 1650, as 
' an able, godly minifter.' He was appointed one of the 
assistants to the county commiffioners for the removal of 
scandalous and insufficient minifters, in 1654, and was one 
of those who took part in the 'Fast,' at Coggefhall, in 1655. 
Willis was ejected by the Act of Uniformity. The entry 
in the Archidiaconal Visitation Book for 1662 is, ' Mr. 
Johannes Willis, rect. vacat. rat. stat.' After his ejectment 
he removed to Brentwood, where he is reported to Sheldon, 
in 1669, as having a conventicle in conjunction with Gilson. 
In 1672 he was still at Brentwood. May 2, he takes out a 
license to be a Presbyterian teacher in his own house there, and 
at the same time a license for himself to be a ' Presbyterian 
teacher in his house.' * 

There was still a Presbyterian church at Brentwood in 
1707, when the pastor was Gabriel Barbor. He was a lineal 
descendant of John Barbor, who had been condemned to be 
burnt at Smithfield, in the reign of Mary. While John 
Barbor was taking leave of his friends, the news came that 
the Queen was dead. On the acceffion of Elizabeth he 
was released from prison, and lived to a good old age. In 
memory of this merciful escape, he caused a jewel to be made, 
consisting of a cameo portrait of Queen Elizabeth, set in gold, 
with a circle of rubies and diamonds, and having attached to it 
a pendant of pearls. This jewel, together with a miniature of 
himself, and a document relating to the facts, enclosed in a 
box, he bequeathed to his nearest of kin, from time to time, 
who should have a daughter named Elizabeth. It thus came 

* Cal. Ace. 306 j Cont. 472} ii. 32.8 ^ P. O. ante p. 340 ; Fast at Coggefliall, 
Lambeth MSS. 639} License Book, S. ante p. 3195 see Gilson, p. 344. 



412 Brentwood. 

into the possession of Gabriel Barbor, from whom, at his 
decease, it descended to his son John, under the following 
deed : c And be it known to all whom it may concern, that I, 
Gabriel Barbor, of Brentwood, do give after my decease, the 
aforesaid jewel, together with the portrait of the said Mr. 
Barbor, unto John, my eldest son, provided he have a daughter 
named Elizabeth, and he is also to give the said jewel and 
picture to his son on the foregoing condition. But if the said 
condition be not fulfilled in my son John, then the said jewel 
and picture shall go to my second son, Gabriel ; and in 
case of a failure here in this son, then the said jewel and 
picture shall descend to Richard, my third son, he performing 
the said condition. But should neither of my sons have a 
daughter named Elizabeth, then my mind and will is that 
the said jewel and picture go to my son John, and his male 
heirs for ever. In witness whereof I set my hand, the 25th 
of August, 1724.' The treasure came into the possession of 
Elizabeth, wife of Prescott Blencowe, of Rayne, and daughter 
of Gabriel's third son, Richard, towards the close of the last 
century. It is now in the possession of a daughter of Mrs. 
Blencowe, who bears the prescribed chriftian name. Gabriel 
Barbor continued pastor of the church until his death in 
1750. In 17 16, the congregation is returned as containing 
three hundred persons; twenty-six of whom had votes for the 
county. Towards the close of Barbor's pastoracy, a secession 
took place, which resulted in the establifhment of the new 
meeting. The original church survived for some years, under 
the pastoracies of Joseph Evans, James Pickborne, and James 
Kemp, all three of whom appear to have been more or less 
tainted with the then prevailing Arian heresy. Shortly after 
James Kemp left Brentwood, the church became extinct. 

The founders of the new meeting were Congregationalists. 
Their first pastor appears to have been Joseph Barber, who 
settled among them in 1755. Barber removed to London 
in 1 76 1, and was succeeded by Nathaniel Hicks, Hicks by 
William Evans, Evans by Roger Williams, and Williams 
by David Smith. Smith resigned in February, 1846. 



Henry Coleman? 413 

The old chapel, which stood in Warley Lane, was now 
taken down, and the present one erected. The Rev. John 
Hall became the paftor in the December after the refignation 
of Smith. Mr. Hall was succeeded by the Rev. William 
Dorling, and Mr. Dorling by the present minifter, the Rev. 
Henry P. Bowen.* 

Langenhoe. — Henry Coleman? Walker says that there 
was a sequeftration here, but he does not mention the name, 
neither can I find any evidence in support of his statement. 
From an entry in the minutes of the Committee for Plundered 
Ministers, under date May 3, 1645, it appears that the 
parifhioners had petitioned them to fill up the cure ; ten days 
afterwards there is another entry, to the effect that c Nathaniel 
Carr having removed to another church, and the gift being in 
Philip Waldgrave, a recusant, ordered that it shall stand to 
Thomas Lawson.' And, under date 21st January, 1646, there 
is the following entry : c Ordered that Mr. Dr. Aylett, or his 
lawful deputy, are hereby authorised and required, upon right 
hereof, to give inftitution and induction unto Henry Coleman, 
clerk, M.A., to the rectory of Langenhoe, in the county of 
EfTex, void by the ceilion and resignation of the last incum- 
bent, Mr. Coleman taking the national league and covenant, 
and producing his presentation thereunto under the seal of the 
chancellor, masters and scholars of the Univerfity of Cam- 
bridge, patrons of the said rectory.' The succeffion of Jacob 
Lane is thus entered in the MS. extracts from Juxon's register, 
frequently quoted in these pages : c Institutio mag. Jacobi 
Lane, clerici ad rect. ecc. paroch de Langenhoe, sede epis- 
copoli vacante, jam legitime vacante ad praesentat Jo. Wright.' 

In 1668 Coleman, in company with other ejected minifters, 
was engaged in a controversy with George Whitehead, the 
quaker ; and September 5, 1672, he took out a license to be a 
Presbyterian teacher. At this last date he is described of 
Great Easton, f 

* Cunnington,Hist. of Braintree MSS.; Annals of Brentwood, by the Rev. H. P. 
Morison and Blackburn MSS. ; Returns Bowen. 1862. 
of 1716, ante p. 353^. The Religious f Walker ii. 293 ; Add. MSS. 15669} 



414 Samuel Borfet. 

High Laver, — Samuel Borfet. He was admitted scholar of 
King's College, Cambridge, June 29, 1650. At King's he 
was contemporary with John, the eldest son of William Jane- 
way, formerly of Ulting, in this county, and afterwards of 
Kelfhall, Herts, to whose memoirs he prefixed an epiftle. He 
was ordained at Moreton, at the same time with Ed. Calamy. 
He went out from King's College M.A., in 1657, when he 
appears to have settled at Laver, as succeffor to Thomas King. 
The Rev. H. A. Collins, the present curate of the parish, 
obliges me with the following extracts from the parish regiffer 
relating to him : £ Collections of briefs in the parish of High 
Laver, Anno Domini 1660. Mr. Borfet, rector; Richard 
King, William Morrice, churchwardens. Collected, Dec. 30th, 
nine shillings 5d. These forementioned sums I have omitted 
for James Gravesner, the deputed collector, this 19th day of 
April, 1 66 1. Samuel Borfet.' In the Visitation Book of the 
archdeaconry, under date September 15, 1662, the entry is, 
c Mr. Samuel Borflete (sic), rect. vac. rat. stat.' After his 
ejection he settled at Maidstone, in Kent, where he was greatly 
beloved. Being driven thence by persecution, he took refuge 
in London, where he succeeded Edmund Calamy at Currier's 
Hall. ' For several of the latter years of his life,' says Calamy, 
c he was disabled from his work by manifold infirmities, and 
confined very much to his chamber. During this, his confine- 
ment, it pleased God he was sorely exercised in his spirit, and 
sometimes extremely depressed with fears as to his future state. 
Once in particular I remember, having been for some nights 
deprived of his rest, he was like one diffracted, his discourse 
was extravagant, he gave up all hopes, thought his case des- 
perate, and apprehended hell was already begun in the horrors 

Carr, ante p. 296 ; Lawson, infra; Jour. public disputes in Essex, between Geo. 

H. of Lords viii. 682; Harl. MSS. Whitehead, called a Quaker, and Stephen 

6100, 186; License Book, S. P. O. Scanderet, Presbyter, being at the latter 

* The glory of Christ. Light within ex- dispute assifted with five more of his 

pelling darkness. Being the sum of brethren, the Presbyters, to wit, Nathaniel 

the Controversie between the People Barnard, Henry Havers, Henry Coleman, 

called Quakers and some of the Non- Nathaniel Ball, and Robert Billoes.' 

conformist Priefts, as manifest at two Printed in the year 1669. 4to. 



Edmund Whiston, Henry Harvey, 415 

of his soul, but God mercifully affording him his wonted sleep, 
he was in a few days again revived, and senfibly found the 
difference between a natural and a grounded despair, And, 
when his end drew near, God gave him abundant comfort, so 
that he parte'd with this life with cheerful hopes of a better. 
He died at Richmond in 1698 — 9, and was buried there March 
21.* 

Little Laver. — Edmund Whiston. His name is given 
in Newcourt as Edward Wilson. He was brother of 
Joseph Whiston, who was ejected from Maidstone, in the 
county of Kent, and was of Trinity College, Cambridge, 
where he proceeded B.A. in 1634, and M.A. in 1638. He 
was first settled at Norton Mandeville, where his name 
appears on the c Classis,' and at which place he also signed 
the c Essex Teftimony ' in 1648, and the ' Essex Watchword' 
in 1649. He was still there in 1650, when he is returned as, 
c an able, godly preaching minister.' I am obliged by the 
Rev. H. Palmer, the present rector of Laver, with copies of 
three entries in the parish regifter there, from which it appears 
that his, Whiston's, Peter, was baptized August 5, 1656. 
Another son, October 3, 1658, and a daughter, March 3, 
1 66 1. He was ejected under of the Act of Uniformity. 
The entry in the Archidiaconal Visitation Book, is ' Whitsone 
(sic), rec. vac. rat. stat.' The admission of his successor, 
Samuel Burnap, 20th September, 1662, is given in Newcourt 
as c per dererelict Wilson.' f 

Laver Magdalen. — Henry Harvey. The living had 
been sequeftered from Francis Kendleton, according to Cole's 
account of the c Minutes of the County Committee for 
Scandalous and Malignant Ministers.' No such person ap- 
pears in Newcourt. Cole, who in this case does not transcribe 

* Cal. Ace. 302; Cont. 464.5 Cole < per cess. Borphet' (sic). But it is not a 

MSS. xv. 207 ; Lands. MSS. 4595 N. solitary case. Wilson, Churches ii. 308. 
ii. 368. It is at least remarkable that * Cal. Ace. 302; Cont. 464; Lands. 

notwithftanding the entry in the Visitation MSS. 4595 Baker's MSS. Add. to 

Book of Archdeaconry, the regiftrar of Calamy. 
the diocese should enter his successor as 



41 6 William Milner. 

from his original, says that ' depositions were taken against 
him at Ongar, 1st April, 1644. Made women wear a veil 
when they were churched, read the Book of Sports, bowed at 
the name of Jesus, preached in the surplice, defended priestly 
absolution, obliged people to come to kneel at the rails at the 
sacrament, reflected on the Parliament, friend to the King, 
refused to take the solemn league and covenant.' Kendleton's 
immediate succeflbr was Philip Saunders. It is not improbable 
that this is the person of whom Laud says, in his account of his 
province, January, 1634, c P. S., of Hutton, being refractory 
was suspended, and hath since forsaken the diocese.' Saunders 
was on the county c Claffis,' he also signed the c Essex Teftimony' 
in 1648, and the 'Essex Watchword' in 1649, and was still 
there in 1650, when the return for the parish is, 'Philip 
Saunders supplys it by some authority from the Parliament.' 
The entry in the minutes of the Archidiaconal Vifitation in 
1662 is, ' Henricus Harvey, reel:, vac. stat.' And the inftitution 
of his succeflbr, George Kendleton, is entered in the MS. 
extracts from Juxon's regifter, in the Britifh Museum, as, 
' legitime jam vacante.' Harvey's ejection, therefore, clearly 
took place under the Act of Uniformity. Calamy says, he 
'was a sincere, upright person, of good minifterial abilities.'* 
Lawford. — William Milner. He succeeded John .Edes 
about 1659. For the following information I am indebted 
to the courtesy of the Rev. C. Merivale, the present vicar. 
' The last entry in the regifter, in what appears to be his hand- 
writing, is in May, 1662. From 14th September, of that year, 
to January, 1664, the cure was supplied by the neighbouring 
clergymen, whose names are severally inserted by the church- 
wardens of the time. Among them were Auguftus Under- 
wood, of Frating ; Isaac Read, of Wrabness ; Stephen Brewer, 
of Ardleigh ; and Wiltin, or Wilkin, curate of Miftley. 
Milner was still in the parish at that date, and his succeflbr, 
John Warren, who came from Northampton, was not admitted 
until August 6, of that year. Milner was residing in the 

* Cal. Ace. 304; Cole MSS. xxviii. 84} Harleian MSS. 6100. 



"John Benson. 417 

parsonage house in the early part of 1663. There is an entry 
of the birth and baptism of a daughter of his on the 1st of 
April, but not in his own handwriting. Milner was buried at 
Lawford. His tombftone, v/ith an inscription, still remains.' * 
Little Leighs. — John Benson. He was of Peterhouse, 
Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.A., in 1639. 
We first meet with him at Bradwell, near Coggesmall, which 
living had beeu sequeftered from George Crackenthorpe, it 
should appear, in 1644. Depositions were taken against 
Crackenthorpe, March 21, 1643, when two witnesses gave 
evidence to c his being a common swearer;' two, to 'his being 
a common tipler and often drunk, as, at Braintree, a quarter of 
a year since, he could not come home without reeling into 
the hedges, and this is usual with him, and about a yeare 
since he was so diftempered with drinking, that he fell down a 
whooping and hollowing till he lay down and slept ;' three, to 
his ' refusing the covenant, but altering the text, and then 
taking it ;' and five, to his c preaching, about a yeare since, that 
almes purge away sin, and good works deliver from death.' 
Copies of these depofitions were given him, and his answer 
was returned. Additional evidence was then heard against 
him on the 21st of April, 1644, when one witness deposed 
that c she hath seen him several times drunk coming from 
Braintree, by her house, and this she knows, because she 
saw him reel and stagger, and once or twice fall, and could 
not keep right in the way y from falling into ditches : once, 
coming into her yard, he so misbehaved himself in his speeches 
as her apprentice boy laughed and shouted at him.' His case 
also underwent a third examination on the 1st of May, when 
' Edward Bridgman, gent.,' deposed that ' Thomas Lawson, 
schoolmafter to Sir W. Maxie's grandchildren, did, for about two 
hours, earneftly solicit him to teftify in Mr. Crackenthorpe's 
behalf, under his hand, through whose importunity he did 
subscribe his hand among others for the said Mr. Cracken- 
thorpe.' Benson left Bradwell in 1647, when he was suc- 

* Edes, ante pp. 156, 2965 Cal. Ace. 308. Palmer has the name in his index, 
but not in the body of his work. 

G G 



41 8 Philip Anderton. 

ceeded by Isaac Smethies, to whom the living was sequeftered, 
by order of the Committee for Plundered Minifters, September 
1 8. In the Lansdowne MSS. Benson's succeffor is called 
' Isaac Smith,' and he was still there in 1650, when he is 
returned as a ' godly, able divine.' 

Benson succeeded Ambrose Wethered at Leighs. New- 
court gives the date of his inftitution as 13th February, 1662, 
but from the Lansdowne MSS. it is plain that he was already 
here in 1650, as he is returned at that date as c a godly preaching 
minifter.' After his ejection he resided at Writtle, where 
we find a license granted 4 to his house to be a Prefbyterian 
meeting house,' April 2, 1672, and at the same date entry 
also of a license granted to him to be a ' teacher of the 
Presbyterian way in his owne house at Writtle, in Essex, till 
he has another.' Calamy says that he ' was much befriended 
by my Lord Fitzwalter's family, near Chelmsford, and that he 
died at Much Baddow in 1682.' A son of Mr. Benson was 
paftor of a church at Sandwich, in Kent, for many years. * 

Leyton. — Philip Anderton. He was of Emmanuel College, 
Cambridge, where he took the degree of master in 1649. He 
became vicar of Leyton, as I am kindly informed by the 
Rev. J. Pardoe, the present incumbent, from the parish 
regifter, in June, 1651. One of his predecessors was Samuel 
Keene, of whom Wood has given a characlieriftic account in 
his c Athense.' Keene, or as Wood calls him Kerne, or Kene, 
was by birth a Londoner. At the age of sixteen he became a 
commoner of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and at nineteen he 
was elected denny of Magdalen College. In 1636, he was 
created B.D., and about that time he was presented to the 
reclory of Oldbury, in Oxfordmire. In 1641, he became 
chaplain in the regiment of the Earl of Denbeigh, and shortly 
afterwards chaplain to the Earl of Warwick, then Lord High 
Admiral. It is of Keene that Laud makes the following 

* Cal. Ace. 309; Cont. 4845 Baker's Sir W. Maxey; Mor. ii . 1 54 j Wethered, 

MSS. Notes to Calamy 5 Add. MSS. ante p. 264 ; License, ante p. 340 j 

15671, 224; Cole MSS. xxviii. 12, 13, Fitzwalter, of Woodham, infra. 
27, 28 ; Lands. MSS. 459 ; N. ii. 388 ; 



Philip Anderton. 419 

entry in his diary: 'August, 1643. Sunday, in the afternoon, 
one preached in the Tower Church in a buff coat and scarf, 
but had no gown on. He told the people they were all 
blessed that died in this cause, with much stuff. His name 
that I there heard was Kem, parson or vicar of Low Leyton, 
in Effex, and then chaplain of a troop of horse.' In 1644, he 
was still with his regiment at Reading, and shortly afterwards 
we find him at Greenwich, associated with Edward Larkin, 
who had then not long left Dunton Waylett, in this county. 
He continued to play a very prominent part on the popular 
side until the refroration, when he conformed, and was rein- 
stated in his old living of Oldbury, where he died, October 
22, 1670. Keene's second wife was Jemimah, eldest daughter 
of Herbert Pelham. He publifhed several sermons. 1. 'The 
MartialifVs Dignity, on Deut. xxiii. 14 ;' 1640,410. 2. 'The 
Messenger's preparation for an Address to the King for a 
well grounded peace ; preached at Oxon, 24th November, 
1644, before the Commiffioners of both kingdoms, the morning 
before their presenting the propositions to his Majefly, on 
Efther iv. 16;' London, 1644, 4to. 3. 'The King of Kings, 
His Privy Marks for the Kingdom's choice of new Members, 
&c. : preached at Briftol on the choice of new burgesses for 
that city, 28th February, 1645, on Prov. x. 10, 11;' Lond., 

1646, 4to. 4. 'The Olive-branch, &c, on 2. Thess. iii. 16;' 
Lond., 1647, 4to. 5- 'Sermon on 1. Cor. xiii. 14;' Lond., 

1647, 4to.* 

Keene's succeffor at Leyton was Samuel Toxey, who removed 
there from Chingford (p. 280). Toxey was succeeded by one 
Fletcher, and Fletcher by Hugh Williams. Newcourt says 
that Williams was vicar in 1647, anc ^ tnat ne was afterwards 
' sequeftered as a malignant.' In 1650, the vicar was 
Jeremiah Levet, who is returned in that year as being ' there 
by order of the Committee for Plundered Ministers.' At 
this date ' the Commiffioners appointed to inquire into the 
state of Ecclesiaftical Benefices, found by their inquest that 
the vicarage house at Leyton was in ruin ; that the whole 

* N. ii. 382; Ath. Ox. ii. 471 ; Larkin, ante p. 261. 

G G 2 



420 Timothy Clark, Henry Lukln. 

profits of the benefice, including an acre of glebe, were only 
j£i6 per annum ; that an augmentation of ^60 had been 
granted by the Committee for Plundered Minifters, and that 
the presentation was in George Swanley and others, to whom 
the rectory is impropriated/ Anderton was the immediate 
succeffor of Jeremiah Levet. Of his personal hiftory I have 
not been able to collect anything beyond the facts that he had 
a daughter Susannah, who was baptized at Leyton in 1656 ; 
two sons, Philip and Laurence, both of whom were also 
baptized there in 1658 \ and another son, John, who was 
baptized in 1660: that after his ejection he taught a school 
in the parish, where he had laboured for twelve years ; and 
that he died August 27, 1669.* 

Lindsell. — Timothy Clark. Calamy and Palmer merely 
give his surname. He was possibly assiftant to Elifha Pratt. 
The Rev. C. S. Gierke, the present vicar, has obligingly 
searched the parish regifters for any traces of the incumbents 
during this period, and informs me that there are no notices of 
Clark. September 5, 1672, a license was granted to Timothy 
Clark to be a Presbyterian teacher c in his own house at Rayne,' 
and the same day his house was licensed as a c Presbyterian 
meeting house.' f 

Henry Lukin. He was not beneficed, neither did he hold 
any cure at the passing of the Act of Uniformity. In 1662 
he was in France with Sir William Mafham. Calamy gives 
the date of his birth as September 12, 16 19. He was of 
Queen's College, Cambridge. After his return from France 
he allied himself with the Nonconforming. He resided for 
many years with Mrs. Mafham, of Matching Hall. While 
here he preached regularly at Matching Green, where a place 
of worfhip was afterwards erected. The congregation has 

* Toxey, 587 ; Levet, Lands. MSS. quoted (part I.) was vicar here from 1669 

459; Lyson's Environs in loc. j Swanley, to 1737, when he died at the advanced 

Mor. i. 225 Cal. Cont. 475. The entry age of 94. See Radwinter. Biog. Brit, 

in the Visitation Book of the Archdea- sub. nom. 

conry, under date Sept. 15, 1662, is 'Mr. f Cal. Ace. 312; Palmer ii. 206 ; 

P. Anderton, vie. vacat. ratione statuti.' License Book, S. P. O. ; Pratt, ante p. 

John Strype, whose ' numerous and valu- 2825 License Book, ante p. 340. 
able writings have been so frequently 



Henry Lukin. 421 

since become extinct. He was a personal friend of John 
Locke, and was the last person with that great man when he 
died. It was cuftomary at that time to give books to the 
company who attended at funerals, with the name of the 
deceased printed on a ticket, which was pafted on the cover. 
By favor of Mr. Jofhua Wilson, to whom I have been greatly 
indebted in the compilation of these Memorials, I have before 
me a copy of one of the books so diftributed at the funeral of 
Lukin. It is a little work of his own, ' The Chief Interest of 
Man,' and the inscription on the ticket is, c In memory of the 
Rev. Mr. Henry Lukin, who died 13th September, 17 19, 
aged 92.' This useful little book, which was publifhed in 
1665, was translated into Latin fourteen years before the 
author's death, under the title, 'Lucrum Hominis Praecipuum 
sive de Religione Tractatus, Lingua Latina donavit Simon 
Priest, A.M., Ecclesiae Bisleianas in Comitatu et Diocesi 
Glouceftrensi, vicarius.' Oxford, 1705. Besides this little 
volume, Lukin also publifhed 'The Practice of Godliness.' 
2nd ed., Lond. 1639, i2mo. ; dedicated to Mrs. Mafham. 
'The Life of Faith, with the general use of Faith.' 1660, 
8vo. 'The Interest of the Spirit in Prayer.' 1674, 8vo. 
'An Introduction to the Holy Scriptures.' 1699, 8vo. 'A 
Funeral Sermon for the Rev. Mr. John Warren, of Bifhop's 
Stortford.' He also wrote a letter to Timothy Rogers, which 
is prefixed to his 'Discourse on Trouble of Mind,' ed. Lond. 
1706. The letter is dated Matching Hall, Essex, November 
21, 1690. After the death of Lukin, at the inftance of his 
widow, Lauchlan Ross, of Abbots Roothing, and George 
Wiggett, of Hatfield Heath, supplied Matching every Sunday 
morning. This their successors continued to do until 1743, 
when George Ross, who had recently removed from Abbotts 
Roothing, became the minifter there. Shortly after this Ross 
left the neighbourhood, and the congregation dispersed, and 
the chapel was closed. There is now a preaching station there 
connected with the church at Felfted. * 

* Palmer ii. 228 j Cal. Ace. 3145 Cont. 492 j Morison and Blackburn MSS. 
A private communication from the Rev. C. Berry, of Hatfield Heath. Warren, 
ante p. 404. 



422 Thomas Horrocks. 

Maldon. — Thomas Horrocks. He was descended from the 
Horrocks', of Horrocks Hall, in Lancafhire, and was the only 
son of Chriftopher Horrocks, of Bolton-on-the-Moors, and a 
relative, as it would seem, of c good Mr. Horrocks, of Dean 
Church,' Chefhire, of whom Oliver Heywood says that, ' he 
was a great friend of John Angier, and also of Bifhop Bridg- 
man's wife, so that Laud, though always on the bifhop to worry 
him, he was retrained;' and of whom he also says that, c he 
preached the sermon at Angier's second marriage.' Chriftopher 
Horrocks was one of the many who were driven into exile by 
the oppression of the times. He accompanied John Cotton, 
of Boston, to New England. On their exile, the parents left 
Thomas at Cambridge. He was of St. John's College, where 
he took the degree of B.A. in 1634, and that of M.A. in 1638. 
Calamy says that he was ordained by the Bifhop of Durham. 
His first settlement was as mafter of the Free School at 
Romford, where ' he taught the sons of many eminent citizens 
and country gentlemen.' While here he buried a son named 
Thomas, December 6, 1642 ; and had a son named John 
baptized September 19, 1642; and a daughter named Sarah 
baptized December 10, 1644. He removed from Romford 
c in order to take possession of a considerable living in Norfolk, 
to which he had been duly presented ; but, as he was travelling 
with letters of inftitution and induction, a false brother who 
was in his company robbed him of them, and supplanted him 
in his passage, which he submitted to, not offering to recover 
his right by law.' June 13, 1646, he was appointed by the 
Committee for Plundered Minifters to the living at Stapleford 
Tawny. The recliory had been sequeftered from Richard 
Nicholson, 'for that he is a common drunkard, and hath 
expressed great malignancy against the Parliament, saying 
they were a company of factious fellows, and that this Parliament 
is no Parliament: and that the main part of the Lords and 
Commons being with the King, they were the Parliament; and 
used divers other wicked speeches against the Parliament, and 
against severall Lords in the House of Peers; and hath three 
wicked and scandalous libells against the Parliament, found in 



Romford, Stapleford. 423 

his study, and did sing one of them in an ale-house.' The 
ordinance for the sequeftration passed the House of Commons 
April 18, 1643. It was 'to the use and benefit of Daniel 
Jennour, M.A.' It was sent up to the Lords on the 20th, 
and on the 28th they issued an order for the personal appearance 
of Nicholson and the witnesses, in order that they might 
re-examine the charges on which the sequeftration had been 
made. The next day Nicholson appeared, and alleged that he 
had been falsely accused ; four witnesses were then examined 
in support of the charges, and the 'House, taking into con- 
sideration the whole business, their Lordmips adjudged him 
for these ofFences to be sequeftered from his living, and to be 
committed to the prison of Newgate, there to remain until the 
pleasure of the House be further known.' On the 17th of 
January following, Mary Nicholson, his wife, petitioned the 
House of Lords that c she may be allowed the fifth part of the 
income of the rectory for her maintenance. The Lords order 
that the ordinances for the sequeftration shall be produced, and 
information be had as to whether the incumbent, that the 
Parliament put in, be alive or not.' And on the 3rd of February, 
this order having been complied with, her petition was again 
read, and it was ordered by the 'Lords in Parliament, who 
conceive it most just that she should be relieved . . . . , that 
she be recommended to the Committee .... for sequeftrations 
to have the fifth part of her husband's eftate, together with the 
arrearages.' Daniel Jennour, who died before June 2, 1646, 
was succeeded by Edward Benthall, who removed almost 
immediately to Stapleford Abbotts. 

Horrocks succeeded Benthall. After his appointment he 
seems to have met with some disturbances from the seques- 
tered rector, who was accordingly summoned to appear before 
the committee to defend himself. He did so July 20, and 
after that, Horrocks settled down in quietness at Stapleford. 
He was there in 1648, at which date he signed the ' Essex 
Testimony,' and also in 1649, when he signed the ' Essex 
Watchword.' In 1650 the return is ' Thomas Horrox (sic), 
a godly, preaching minifter, by order of the Committee for 
Plundered Ministers.' 



424 Thomas Horrocks. 

At Maldon, Horrocks succeeded Israel Hewit. The return 
for 1650 is, ' Maulden, All Saints with St. Peter's joyned to 
it, no minifter yet settled, but the patron intends to present 
Mr. Horrocks, a godly and able minifter. 3 The patron at 
that date appears to have been Richard Ingram, l a Londoner.' 
The joint livings had been augmented to the amount of 
forty pounds yearly, by the Committee for Sequeftrations, in 
June, 1646. Here, says Calamy, ' he was a diligent and 
painful preacher for twelve years together, and was an inftni- 
ment in converting many souls. He was much respected by 
the Lord Bramston, of Roxwellj the Earl of Warwick, Sir 
Gobert Barrington, Sir Thomas Honevwood, Sir Walter St. 
John, and many others of the nobility and gentry in these 
parts. After his ejectment he continued to preach, and was 
at length cast into the dungeon of the town prison, where 
he lay ten days. His wife went to London to wait on the 
King and Council, and the Earl of Manchester, and the Lord 
Roberts, who were his friends, and obtained a 'habeas corpus ' 
to remove him, to the great mortification of his adversaries. 
A court being called in the town, he was accused of all sorts 
of crimes, and called bv some of the aldermen, heretick, 
schismatick, and traitor; and when he was pleading for him- 
self, one of them rose from the bench and gave him a box 
on the ear, and beat off his satin cap. He stooped down to 
take it up again, and thanked the boisterous gentleman. They 
told him if he must be gone, he should hire his own horse, 
or go on foot, but he told them he had done nothing against 
the King or Government, and therefore thev should take care 
to send him, for he could not walk nor hire an horse. They 
at length sent him on horseback, with a sergeant on each side 
of him, through all the towns like a criminal, and Air. Hart, 
that struck him, followed to prosecute him. He was brought 
before Judge Mallet, who, though severe enough of himself, 
yet as God ordered it, was pretty favourable to him. He 
reproved the alderman, saying, he thought his prisoner looked 
like a very honest gentleman and deserved no such treatment. 
To which he answered, that he was a pestilent fellow, and 



Thomas Horrocks. 425 

had preached to five hundred at once, through the gate of his 
prison, but the Sunday before. The judge said this v/as 
a sign he was well-beloved, and he acquitted him. But the 
furious bailiff went and entered his action in the Crown 
Office, so that, though it was eight at night, he was forced 
to go to Romford, which cost him a violent fit of sickness. 
He was harassed from one court to another for three assizes, 
and his life was threatened, but some gentlemen that were 
his friends solicited Sir Orlando Bridgman, who was the 
judge, and his countryman ; he at last was cleared, and some 
of the judges came down from the bench and embraced him. 
After a great many fatigues, he at last settled at Battersea, in 
Surrey, where he boarded and taught young gentlemen.' 

There is the following notice of Horrocks in an account 
of c Informations of Meetings in Hertfordshire,' dated January 
2, 1664. c Horrex, late vicar of Maldon, in Essex, who hath 
bin severall times indited at ye assize in that county for holding 
conventicles, is now preacher to ye Anabaptists of Hertford, 
who meete on Sundaye at ye house of one Herles, a ffarmer, 
cald Brickingtonbury, to ye number of 500 at a time, from ye 
parts there about. These talke high yt the time of their 
liberty draweth neare .... And Horrexe, aforesaid, is to 
them as one of ye furys to spurn them onward. He p(rea)ches 
to them, yt he comes not to them with a sermon out of a 
booke, but with that which the Lord hath spoken to him : 
viz., yt theye must not goe back nor bee daunted with any 
terrour, lest God spue them out of his mouth.' Calamy says 
that Horrocks died at Battersea, about 1687. The institution 
of Head, his successor at Maldon, is given as c per incon- 
formitatem Tho. Horrocks.' * 

' About the time of the revolution,' says the Rev. R. 

* Cal. Ace. 308 ; Cont. 468 ; Hey- 15671, 112, 1405 Lands. MSS. 4595 

wood, Life of John Angler, p. 23 ; Mor. ii. 3255 N. ii. 399, 5775 S. P. O. 

Notes and Queries, Nov. 15, 1862 ; The Dom. Ser. Inter, eclxxxvi. 12 ; Chas. II. 

First Century, 25 ; Jour. H. of C. iii. xcvii. 7 ; Informers, see Owen Stockton, 

53; H. of L. vi. 21 ; vii. 142, 172; p. 371. 
Add. MSS. 15670, 193, 204, 208 } 



426 Maldon. 

Burls, c Mr. Joseph Billio came to Maiden to gather together, 
under his ministry, those persons whom Mr. Horrocks' 
preaching had prepared for separation, and who had very 
likely been instructed by the occasional, though they might 
have been private teachings of his father. Either Mr. Billio 
or his friends hired on a long lease a piece of ground in the 
parish of St. Peter, and erected a meeting house, to hold about 
four hundred hearers. That ground is the site of the present 
chapel. Mr. Billio,' continues Mr. Burls, c was followed by 
Mr. Bird ; he relinquished the miniftry and became a hearer 
of his successor, the Rev. Lawrence Holden, who continued 
to suflain the ofhce of the miniftrv for manv years. His 
religious sentiments approached to Unitarianism, hence, as 
might be expected, those persons who approved the preaching 
of Mr. Billio, left the place and joined themselves to neigh- 
bouring congregations : some went to Witham, some to Little 
Baddow. Those who separated from Mr. Holden's miniftry, 
finding great inconvenience in travelling so far on the Lord's 
day, determined, about the year 1765, to try whether an 
interest founded on the principles thev held to be vitally 
important could be raised again at Maldon. In pursuance 
of this object they first engaged a small building occupied bv 
the Wesleyan Methodifts. Not long after, the Methodifts 
left the place, which was part of the premises now (1840) 
occupied in the parish of St. Mary bv Mr. Alfred Mav. 
Their first minifter was the Rev. Rest. Knipe. Air. Knipe 
wrote and publifhed, in 1 77 1, a small volume of sermons. Air. 
Knipe was succeeded, in 1773, bv the Rev. Samuel Wilms- 
hurst, who was ordained in 1776. Mr. Holden died in 1778/ 
The congregation then returned to their old place of worship. 
Stephen Foster became Wilmshurst's assiftant in 1779, and 
Wilmshurst died February 13, 1800. In 1801, a new place 
of worfhip was erected on the site of the old one, which had 
now become insufficient. Foster died October 9, 18 11. 
Early in 18 13, James Tait succeeded. He resigned in June 
18 19. In the October following, Tait was succeeded by 
the Rev. Robert Burls, who resigned in 1857, anc * was 



Edmund Calamy. 427 

succeeded by the present minifter, the Rev. James Gwynne 
Hughes. * 

Moreton. — Edmund Calamy, jun. He was the son of 
Edmund Calamy, the ejected of Aldermanbury, by his first 
wife, who was one of the Snelling family. He was born at 
Bury St. Edmunds about the year 1635, and was educated first 
under the care of his father, and afterwards in the University 
of Cambridge, where he was entered of Sidney College, 
March 28, 1651. He took the degree of B.A., in 1654, 
and that of M.A., in 1658. He afterwards became fellow 
of Pembroke Hall. On the death of Samuel Hoard he came 
to Moreton, where he was ordained by Francis Chandler, 
of Theydon Mount, John Pool, of Bobbingworth, and 
five other ministers in that neighbourhood, at the same 
time with Samuel Borfet and Richard Roberts, the son of 
John, Lord Roberts, who was ejected from the rectory of 
Culsden, in Surrey. After having preached at Moreton for 
some time, with general approbation, he was admitted to the 
living under the following c inftrument :' — c Know all men by 
these presents, that the twentieth day of April, in the year 
one thousand six hundred and fifty-nine, there was exhibited 
to the Commissioners for approbation of Publick Preachers, 
a presentation of Edmund Calamy, the younger, to the rectory 
of Moreton, in the county of Essex, made to him by the Right 
Honourable Edward, Earl of Manchefter; John, Lord Roberts; 
Sir Gilbert Gerrard, Baronet; Anthony Tuckney, doctor in 
divinity, mafter of St. John's College, in Cambridge; Simeon 
Ash, clerk ; and Edmund Calamy, the elder; feoffees in trust 
of Robert, Earl of Warwick, deceased, the patrons thereof, 
together with a teflimony in behalf of the said Edmund 
Calamy, of his holy life and good conversation, upon perusal 
and due consideration of the premises, and finding him to be a 
person qualified as in and by the ordinance for such approbation 

* Essex Remembrancer iv. 254. A infra. In 171 6 the congregation is re- 

Proteftant Dissenter's Memorial, being a turned as containing 500 hearers, of whom 

discourse on Sept. 20, 1840, by Robert 103 had votes for Maldon, and 34 had 

Burls. Maldon, 1840. Biliio's father, votes for the county. Ante p. 353. 



428 Edmund Calamy. 

is required, the Commissioners above mentioned have adjudged 
and approved the said Edmund Calamy to be a fit person to 
preach the gospel, and have granted him admiffion, and do 
admit the said Edmund Calamy to the rectory of Moreton 
aforesaid, to be full and perfect possessor and incumbent 
thereof j and do hereby signify to all persons concerned therein 
that he is hereby inftituted to the profits and perquisites, and 
all rights and dues incident and belonging to the said rectory, 
as fully and effectually as if he had been inftituted and inducted 
according to any such laws and cuftoms as have in this case 
formerly been made, had, or used in this realm. In witness 
whereof they have caused the common seal to be hereunto 
affixed, and the same to be attefted by the hand of the regiftrar, 
by his Highness in that behalf appointed. Dated at Whitehall, 
the twentieth day of April, 1659. John Nye, reg.' At his 
settlement Calamy gave four bonds for payment of firftfruits to 
the Protector, Richard; having two substantial citizens bound 
with him ; the form ran thus : ' Know all men by these presents, 
that we, Edmund Calamy, clerk; Samuel Bayly, of Iron- 
monger-lane, London, citizen and cordwainer; and Richard 
Brinley, of Aldermanbury, London, citizen and haberdafher ; 
do owe and are firmly bound to Richard, Lord Protector of 
England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the dominions and terri- 
tories thereunto belonging, in the sum of nine pounds of lawful 
money of England, to be paid to the said Lord Protector and 
his successors : to the which payment, well and truly to be 
made, we bind one and every of us by himself for the whole, 
and in the whole our and every of our heirs, executors, and ad- 
ministrators, by these presents ; sealed with our seals, and dated 
this seven and twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord, 
1659.' These documents have their value as illuftrations of 
the regularity of similar proceedings at that date. 

Calamy was one of many who never took the Solemn League 
and Covenant that was at first c so warmly insifted on, on the 
side of Parliament, and the renouncing of which was the 
occasion of such warm debates at the reftoration.' He fully 
sympathized in the part taken by his father at the reftoration; 



Edmund Calamy. 429 

and when an act was passed, in 1661, 'to enable his Majefty to 
send out commissioners to receive the free and voluntary con- 
tributions of his people/ he, like others of his neighbours, gave 
generously towards the assiftance of the King. 

After his ejection Calamy removed to London, where he 
resided for some time with his father. When the plague 
broke out he retired to Suffolk, where he resided with Sir 
Samuel Barnard ifton, but returned to London after the great 
fire of 1666. In 1669 he married the eldest daughter of 
Joshua, the eldest son of John Gearing, who had been the 
treasurer to the feoffees for burying in impropriations in the 
reign of Charles I. After his marriage he lived in the parish 
of Aldermanbury, in c a little house over against the Conduit,' 
where he preached for several years. April 2, 1672, he was 
licensed to be a c Presbyterian teacher in any place licensed and 
allowed.' He now formed a congregation in Curriers' Hall, 
near Cripplegate, and, ' notwithstanding that he preached 
usually every Lord's day, and sometimes twice on a day, and 
at other times several times in a week, yet so favourable was 
Providence towards him that he was never once diflurbed in 
the time of divine worfhip, nor was he ever apprehended or 
carryed before a magiftrate, though warrants were often out 
against him. He was several years in the Crown office, with 
several others of his brethren, which was both troublesome 
and chargeable. He was a man of peace and of a very candid 
spirit: could not be charged by any one that knew him with 
being a Nonconformist, either out of humour or for gain ; 
abhorred a close and narrow spirit, which affects the confining 
religion to a party; was much rather for a comprehension than 
a perpetuated separation; and was ready to do good to all as he 
had opportunity, though such a lover of privacy and retirement 
that he was for passing through the world with as little 
observation as might be.' He died in May, 1685, leaving 
a son and four daughters. 

Calamy was succeeded at Curriers' Hall by Samuel Borfet 
(p. 414.) His son, who was also his namesake, is the well- 
known author of the 'Abridgement of Mr. Baxter's Hiftory 



43° Edmund Calamy^ Malachi Harris. 

of his Life and Times, with an Account of the Minifters, &c, 
who were ejected after the Reftoration of King Charles.' The 
first edition of this book was publifhed in 1702; and the 
second, in two volumes, in 17 13. This second edition was 
followed by a 'Continuation of the Account of the Minifters, 
Lecturers, Mafters, and Schoolmasters, who were ejected and 
silenced after the Restoration in 1660, by or before the Act of 
Uniformity; to which is added, The Church and Dissenters 
compared as to Persecution, in some remarks on Dr. Walker's 
attempt to recover the Names and Sufferings of the Clergy that 
were Sequestered, &c, between 1640 and 1660;' and also 
c Some True Remarks on the Twenty-eighth Chapter of Dr. 
Bennet's Essay on the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion.' 
Besides these, this Edmund Calamy was the author of some 
thirty-eight other publications, the greater number of which 
directly bear on the history and defence of Nonconformity. 
He was born at Aldermanbury, April 5, 167 1 : and educated at 
Merchant Taylors' School, at Wickham Brook, under Samuel 
Cradock, afterwards of Bifhop's Stortford, and at the University 
of Utrecht. In 1692 he became assistant to Matthew Sylvester, 
at Blackfriars. In 1694 he received Presbyterian ordination, 
and soon after became assistant to Daniel Williams, afterwards 
the founder of the library in Red Cross-street, at Hand-alley. 
In 1702 he became one of the lecturers at Salter's Hall, and in 
1703 he succeeded Vincent Alsop at Westminster. He died 
June 3, 1732. He left a MS. entitled 'An Historical 
Account of my own Life, with some Reflections on the Times 
that I have lived in,' which was publifhed in 1829, in two 
volumes, 8vo., under the editorship of John Towill Rutt. 
London, Colburn and Bentley. - * 

Navestock. — Malachi Harris. This vicarage had been 
sequestered from Samuel Fifher. The sequestration appears in 
the minutes of the Committee for Plundered Ministers, in 
the British Museum. I give the ejection of Harris on the 

* Cal. Ace. 300 j Cont. 461; Art. Chandler, infra; Pool, p. 276; Borfet, 
Col. Biogr. Brit. ed. ; Kippis, Calamy, p. 414 ; License Book, S. P. O., ante 
see infra; Hoard, ante p. 155, 276 j p. 340. 



Thomas Hubbard. 



43 r 



authority of Morant, who mentions the admission of John 
Pettifer, 3rd September, 1660, ' on the resignation or removal 
of Malachi Harris,' of whom he adds, ' that he was never 
fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and had undoubtedly been 
put in by the patrons of the living during the times of con- 
fusion.' * 

Among the MSS. in the State Paper Office there is the 
following petition of Malachi Harris, D.D., c Sheweth, that 
the Right Honourable the Earle of Norwich hath had ye 
summe of ^400 of yr petitioner in his hands about ye space 
of eleven or twelve yeares last past, the same being yr 
petitioner's children's portions, as by bonds and letters may 
appeare. And whereas his hon. had resolved to paye the said 
monys out of the pention allowed by yr sacred Mtee. unto 
him, as he was captain of ye Mtee.'s Guard, but suddaine death 
having taken him before he could accomplish the payment 
thereof; may it therefore please yr sacred Mtee. to grant an 
order that the said ^400 be with the first paid yr petitioner 
out of the said earle's pention. And &c. January, 1663.' 

Cold Norton. — Thomas Hubbard. The rectory had been 
sequestered from William Middleton, but under what circum- 
stances I have not been able to ascertain. John Rogers was 
his immediate successor, who was at Norton in September, 
1647, when he is ordered to pay Mrs. Middleton her fifths. 
The return for 1650 is, c John Maiden, a godly minister, by 
sequestration.' Hubbard seems to have succeeded Maiden. 
The Rev. William Holland, the present rector, obliges me 
with copies of the following entries in the parish register: 
c Mr. Thomas Hubbard, minister, and Ann Stephens, widow, 
were married January 18, 1658. Thomas Hubbard, some 
time minister of Norton, was buried the ninth day of April, 
1664. Ann Hubbard, of this parish, widow, was buried the 
foure and twentieth day of October, 1665. Buried, Sarah 
Hubbard, 18th day of December, 1690. Affidavit made to 

* Mor i. 184; Add. MSS. 15669, 404} 15670, 4435 S. P. O. Dom. Ser. 
Charles II. Ixvii. 157. 



43 2 Edward Sparhawke. 

Mr. Hermandes.' In the Visitation Book of the archdeaconry, 
for 1662, the entry is, c Mr. Thomas or Robert Pecklunatike, 
he is not in orders.' From this it appears that Middleton 
survived the restoration, and that Hubbard was ejected under 
the act of 1660. The next entry in the register of the diocese 
is, 'Tho. Ford, 2nd December, 1663, de jure vacat.' * 

Black Notley. — Edward Sparhawke. The rectory had 
been sequestered from Joseph Plume, c for that he is a common 
ale-house and tavern haunter, and hath been oftentimes drunke; 
and not only used superstitious bowing himself at the name 
of Jesus, but hath presented the churchwardens for not bowing, 
and threatened his parifhioners because they refused it, com- 
manding his churchwardens to look to them ; and hath 
absented himselfe from his said cure for the space of eighteen 
weeks last past, and is reported to have betaken himself to the 
army of the cavaleers, and hath otherwise expressed great 
malignity against the Parliament.' 

In Laud's account of his province, January, 1635, there is 
mention made of c one Sparrowhawke,' who was then c curate 
and lecturer at St. Mary, Woolnoth, London,' as having c been 
convented for preaching against the canon for bowing at the 
name of Jesus, and .... suspended from preaching in the 
diocese.' This may perhaps have been Edward, afterwards 
of Notley. We meet with him in EfTex, for the first time, at 
Stisted, which vicarage had been sequeftered to him from 
Richard Middleton, by order of the House of Commons, 
April 18, 1643. It was from thence that he removed to 
Notley. The Rev. T. Overton, B.D., the present rector 
of this parish, obliges me with copies of several entries in 
the parish register, from which it appears, that ' Sarah, the 
daughter of Edward and Lucy Sparhawke, was baptized at 
Black Notley, September 5, 1645 ; Jemimah, their daughter, 
June 13, 1647 ; and Samuel, their son, April 30, 1651 ; and 
that Hester, their daughter, died there, December 26, 1653 ; 
and Jemimah, their daughter, May 6, in the night, 1655.' I 

* Add. MSS. 1 5671, 109, 220 j Palmer ii. 211 ; Maiden, ante p 274. 



Barnaby ^ of Ockendon. "John Hubbert. 433 

have given his name as it is found in the registers. In the 
Journal of the House of Commons it is given c Sparrow hawke,' 
and by Calamy, c Sparrowhawk.' In 1650, he is reported as c a 
godly preaching minister.' After his ejectment he seems to 
have removed to the neighbourhood of Colchester. The 
Bufton MSS., as I am informed by the Rev. B. Dale, contain 
the following notice of his death : c Old Mr. Sparhawke (sic), 
minifter, was buried. He lived within five miles of Colchefter, 
9th September, 1678.'* 

South Ockendon.— . Barnaby. The rectory had been 
sequeftered from Francis Gouldman, it should appear, in 1644. 
Walker says that Gouldman was the c well-known compiler 
of the dictionary which now bears his name.' Depositions 
were taken against him at Ongar, 9th April, 1644. Barnaby 
was not the immediate successor. John Petchie was minifter 
there in 1646-7, possibly the same who was minister at 
Havering as late as 1637. In 1650, the return is, c William 
Wrett, by order from the Committee for Plundered Minifters, 
an able, learned divine, conftantly performing the cure.' I 
have not been able to ascertain anything of Barnaby. There 
are no traces of him in the parish regifters. f 

Great Okeley. — John Hubbert. We first meet with 
him at Great Bentley, where he was the immediate succeffor 
of Nicholas Lewes, and the predecessor of Thomas Beard. 
His name appears in the parish regifter there as early as July 
18, 1 641, at which date there is the following entry : c Memo- 
randum. That the day and year above written, we, whose 
names are subscribed, have taken the proteftation made and 
taken by the honourable House of Commons, May 3, in the 
year aforesaid, freely and willingly in the parish church of 
Much Bentley.' Then follow a great number of signatures, 
that of John Hubbert being the first. Before January 30, 
1644, he had left, and we next find him at Boxted, to which 

* Cal. Ace. 313 ; The First Century, 78; Add. MSS. 15669,2985 15671, 
16; Jour. H. of C. iii. 49; Lands. MSS. 51 ; Walker ii. 351 ; Notes and Queries, 
459 5 Stisted, infra. Aug. 30, 1862 ; Lands. MSS. 459. 

f Cole, Notes to Walker MSS. xxviii. 

H H 



434 John Hubbert, John Lor kin. 

vicarage he was admitted 15th March, 1644. Here his 
name appears on the c Classis.' Here he also signed the 
' EfTex Teftimony ' in 1648, and the c Effex Watchword ' in 
1649. He was still vicar of Boxted in 1650. At that date, 
according to the Parliamentary return, Robert Cole, who was 
the son of* Humphrey Cole, of Tillingham, and had been 
instituted March 12, 1627, and had been rector also of Little 
Okeley, 1629 to 1641, was still rector of Great Okeley. 
At what date Hubbert succeeded Cole, I have not been able 
to ascertain. After his ejectment he appears to have continued 
to reside in the parish. He died and was buried there. 

The Rev. J. H. Marsden, the present rector, obliges me 
with the information that he has not been able to find Hubbert's 
name in the regifter, excepting in the entry of his interment. 
Mr. Marsden adds, c he seems to have purchased the advowson, 
and to have presented himself, inasmuch as he and his wife 
presented John Bockenham, in 1663, and that he was buried 
at Great Okeley, March 19, 1678.' * 

Chipping Ongar. — John Lorkln. Of his personal history 
nothing seems to be known. Notices of two of his prede- 
cessors at Ongar, Henry Havers and Elias Pledger, will be 
found elsewhere. Pledger was succeeded by Thomas Martin, 
as appears from the following entry in the parish regifter, with 
a copy of which I am favored by the Rev. Ed. Fifher, the 
present rector : c Elizabeth Martin, daughter of Thomas 
Martin, minifter of Chipping Ongar, and Katharine, his wife, 
born 17th July, baptized 17th August, 1655.' Mr. Fifher 
also informs me that there is a change in the handwriting at 
the date of 1660, which would be that of the admission of 
Lorking. The minute in the Visitation Book of the arch- 
deaconry in 1662 is, 'Johannes Lorking, rect. vac. rat. stat. ;' 
and the admission of his successor, James Crook, is given in 

* Cal. Ace. 308; Add. MSS. 15670, Non Nigro, Creta sed meliore tua | 

69 } N. ii. 80, 445, 446 ; Lands. MSS. Clamit in Clero nulli pietate secundus | 

459 j Mor. i. 489. The following Coelum vi rapit, vi capere poteris.' See 

curious epitaph was formerly on a stone ante, p. 293. See Great Bentley, p. 350. 

in Tillingham Church: — 'Hie jacit Boxted, p. 293. 
Humphredus Carbo, Carbone Mutandus | 



y 'oh n Lor kin. 435 

Newcourt, as 'per inconform. Lorkin.' Calamy says of him, 
' At his church several of his brethren carried on a weekly 
lecture. He was an infirm but solid person, and had a good 
eftate which he lived upon, being very ready to entertain his 
brethren.' A contemporary newspaper contains a letter from 
Chipping Ongar, which says, under date October, 1662 : 
' This place having much thirfted for the continuance of a 
lecture by orthodox divines, did for that purpose petition the 
Most Reverend Father in God, Gilbert (Sheldon), lord bifhop 
of London, and his lordfhip granted our request. Therefore, 
on Tuesday last, a lecture began, Dr. G. Gibbs preaching the 
first sermon. I need not tell you that common prayer was 
read according to the statute. Many worthy divines were 
present, who undertook to supply the lecture for the better 
service of his Majeftie and the church.' Gibbs was the suc- 
cessor of Matthew Elliftone, at Stamford Rivers. He is one 
of Walker's c sufferers. ' 

There are traces of a congregation here before the close of 
the century. The first minifter, of whom any record survives, 
was Nathaniel Lacey, who is described as clerk. It should 
appear that this was the person mentioned, p. 277. If so, he had 
previously been rector of Grinfted, and, notwithstanding that 
he conformed in 1662, had now seceded. His successor was 
John Nettleton, who was brother-in-law to Philip Doddridge, 
who removed here from Epping before the year 17 18. In 
17 16, the congregation is returned as having two hundred 
persons, eight of whom had votes for the county, and four of 
whom are described as 'gentlemen.'* By 1722, the meeting 
house had been erected. The parlor at this date was Simeon 

* Cal. Ace. 306; Newc. ii. 453; nally passed in 1666. It was intended 

'The Kingdom's Intelligencer,' Thursday, for lessening the importation of linen 

Oct. 1 3, to Oct. 20, 1662} No. 42, Gibbs 5 from beyond the seas, and for the encour- 

Walker ii. 2485 Newc. i. 921. The agement of the woollen manufactures of 

Rev. S. Conway obliges me with the fol- this kingdom, and provided that none 

lowing, from the parish regifter : 'Thomas should be buried but in woollen.' l8,C. 

Lorkin was buried April 3, 1679, ac- ii. 24. It was afterwards re-enacted in 

cording to the late Act of Parliament for 1677. Jour. H. of C. ii. 3 ; Returns of 

burying in woollen. This act was origi- 1716, ante, p. 353. 

H H 2 



43 6 John Lavender. 

Weaver. His succeflbr appears to have been John Green, 
and Green by John Somerset. The meeting house was con- 
veyed to truftees in 1772. Ini78i, Stephen Fofter, afterwards 
first of Terling, and then of Maldon, became the pastor. He 
was shortly succeeded by Thomas Bingham, formerly of Ded- 
ham ; Bingham by Thomas Hutchins ; Hutchins by James 
Churchill ; Churchill by Isaac Taylor ; Taylor by Isaac 
Tozer ; Tozer by the Rev. R. Cecil, now of Turvey Beds; 
Cecil by the Rev. Robert Simpson; Simpson by the Rev. I. 
Jennings, and Jennings by the present paftor, the Rev. Samuel 
Conway, B.A.* 

High Ongar. — John Lavender. The rectory had been 
sequeftered from Josiah Tomlinson, by order of the House of 
Commons, October 21, 1643, at which date Lavender was 
appointed by the same authority to officiate the cure. In the 
Harleian Collection, in the Britifh Museum, there is a small 
4to volume of MSS. containing a transcript, and also a dupli- 
cate, of c A Funerall Remembrance ; a teftimony concerning 
the religious life and death of the truly virtuous and gracious 
gentlewoman, Mrs. Jane Luther, wife of Antonie Luther, 
Esquire, buryed at Kelvedon, January 11, 1641 ; delivered by 
John Lavender, Mtr. of Artes of Queen's College, in Cam- 
bridge, before the sermon at her buryall ;' and 2. c A True 
Coppie of the Sermon preached at Kelvedon parish, in the 
county of EfTex, the 2nd day of March, 1638, by Mr. 
Lavender, at the buryall of Richard Luther, Esquire, aged 88 
years.' Prefixed to this last is an elegiac poem, of forty lines, 
and a Latin acrostic, of fourteen lines, c In obitum Richardi 
Lutheri, Armigeri de Kelvedon, in Com. EfTex ;' and to the 
title is added by the writer, ' This coppy was given to me, at 
my earnest request, by the said Mr. Lavender, the 29th March, 
1639.' Richard Luther was the father of Antony. The 
family were seated at Miles's, in the parish of Kelvedon Hatch. 
The name of Antony appears on the c Classis ' as one of the 
elders of that parish. 

* i The Origin and Hiftory of Nonconformity in Chipping Ongar, by the Rev. 
Isaac Jennings,' (1862). 



"John Lavender. 437 

Lavender was one of the c Classis ;' he also signed the 
c ElTex Testimony/ in 1648, and the ' EfTex Watchword,' in 
1649. I R ^50 he is reported as ' an able, godly minifter, by 
sequeflration.' Tomlinson having died before the reftoration, 
Lavender at that date must have been regularly presented to 
the vacancy. The living was in the gift of the Earl of 
Warwick. Bishop Kennett says, c I am informed that a 
neighbouring minifter was urgent with him (Lavender) not to 
conform ; although, when the time came, he conformed him- 
self. And,' he also adds, c there was a common tradition in 
Eflex that Dr. Anthony Walker had exerted a similar influence 
on his predecefTor at Fyfield,' (Henry Havers.) Calamy, in 
relating this story, says that c the adviser afterwards got 
Lavender's place.' But this was not so, Lavender's succeffor 
was William Alchorne. In the Archidiaconal Visitation Book 
for 1662, the entry is, 'John Lavender, rect. vac. rat. stat.' 
Lavender seems to have continued at Ongar after his eject- 
ment. He was buried at Ongar. The Rev. H. J. Earle, 
the present rector, obliges me with the following copy of the 
inscription on the tombstone which is in the church-yard : 
c Underneath this marble lieth buried the body of Daniel 
Joyner, rector of Hackwell, in this county, who departed this 
life May 19, 1695 ; aged 54 years. Here also lyeth the body 
of John Lavender, late rector of this parifh, who departed this 
life April 23, 1670 ; aged 59 year: and likewise Margaret, 
his wife. And also, near this stone, Johanna, his second wife. 
Of a grateful remembrance to a dearest and loving husband, 
and her honoured parents, the said John and Margaret, this 
stone was layed by Rebecca Joyner.' Calamy says of Laven- 
der, c He was all love to Christ, in life and in death ; an holy, 
heavenly divine, of a very meet disposition, much and great in 
prayer and spiritualizing occurrence.' * 

Panfield. — George Purchas. The rectory had been seques- 
tered from Edward Jenkinson, ' for that he did set the com- 

* Cal. 306 j Harl. MSS. 65385 Walker ii. 3785 Kennett Regifter and 
Jour. H. of Lords iii. 283 ; Mor. i. 1865 Chronicler, 723. 
Lands. MSS. 459 ; see Stambourne, 



43 8 George Purchas. 

munion table altar-wise, and railed it in ; and commanded the 
churchwardens to present such as refused to come to receive at 
the railes, and called them that refused wall-eyed horses ; and 
hath in his sermon taught — that the table is God's altar, arid 
that those that would not bow here at the ?ia?ne of Jesus should 
bow in hell hereafter, and that such as taught them they need not 
bow were blind guides ; and hath compared the godly, reverend 
ministers, living about him, to roasted doggs, which draw away 
other men's pigeons, because his people went to heare them 
preach when they had no sermon at home ; and hath said that 
such as preach twice a day are but praters, and that hee will 
want of his will but he will put by preaching in the afternoon, 
himselfe being a judge in the ecclefiastical court ; and he is an 
encourager of prophaning the Lord's day, sending then for 
cudgels for his people to play withal, and being present himself 
at the cudgell playing; and hath expreffed great malignancy 
against the Parliament.' The sequeftration was ordered bv 
the House of Commons, October 7, 1643, t0 tne use °f J onn 
Clark, M.A. Clark, however, could not have remained here 
long. He was succeeded by Robert Sparkes, who is said, bv 
Walker, to have been sequestered also. If he was, however, 
he soon obtained another living, as in 1650 the return for 
South Benfleet is, c Robert Sparkes, an able minister, approved 
of by the parifhioners ;' a statement which it is not easv to 
reconcile with the allegation that he was sequeftered. The 
Rev. E. J. Hill, the present rector of Paniield, obliges me 
with the information that the name of Sparkes appears in the 
parish registers February 15, 1660-1, which at least determines 
the date of the ejectment of Purchas. The immediate suc- 
cefTor of Sparkes was John Gilpin, whose name frequentlv 
appears in the registers down to 1653, and who evidently is 
the person reported of in the Parliamentary return, so frequently 
mentioned in these pages, ' by the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters, an able, godly minister.' It is worth notice that 
at that date Jenkinson was at Little Holland. The return for 
that parish is : c There is neither parsonage nor vicarage, Mr. 
Jenkinson, formerly sequeftered from Panheld, supplies the 



Bajlwick, of Parndon. 439 

cure.' George Purchas was probably related to Samuel Pur- 
chas and also Thomas Purchas. From some MS. additions 
to one of the copies of the c Classis,' in the British Museum, 
which are generally to be relied upon, it appears that Purchas 
succeeded one Hubbard in the sequeftration. In the Visitation 
Book for 1663, there is a minute of John Taylor and Robert 
Poulton being cited for not bringing their children to be bap- 
tized, and not frequenting the parifh church of Panfield.* 

Great Parndon. — . Bajiwick. This rectory had been 
sequeftered from William Osbalston c for that he in his absence 
supplied his cure by scandalous and insufficient curates, and 
hath in his sermons preached against frequent preaching, affirm- 
ing it to be properly no service of God, and that it was never a 
merry world since there was so much of it, and that if he could 
preach twice a day he would not, and that once hearing of 
common prayer is better than ten sermons ; and hath read in his 
said church the Book of Sports on the Lord's day, and en- 
couraged men to foot-ball and other like sports on that day ; 
and hath taught his people — that the water in baptisme doth 
wash away original sinne ; and being defired to pray for a sick 
child, that was two years old, said in his prayer — that actuall 
sinne it had committed none, and as for originall it was warned 
away in baptisme ; and hath pressed his parifhioners to come up 
to the railes to receive the sacrament, professing that otherwise 
he would not deliver it unto them ; and hath threatened to 
present such of his parifhioners as went to heare sermons else- 
where when they had none at home, calling them hypocrites, 
and of the tribe of Gad ; . and said to one of his parifhioners that 
he could not abide him because he stanke of two sermons a day. 
And being demanded to contribute to the association of 
the counties for the publike defence, said he would first have 
his throat cut before he would.' On the sequeftration of the 
rectory, Jeremy Dyke, M. A., was appointed to the living, by an 
order of the House of Commons, bearing date 25th December, 

* Cal. Ace. 308 ; Cont. 477 ; The MSS. 459 ; see Holland, ante p. 299 ; 
First Century 155 Jour. H. of C. iii. Sam. Purchas, ante p. 2685 Thomas, 
2685 Walker ii. 281, ^575 Lands. p. 270. 



440 Ralph Hi lies. 

1643, and Osbalston having died in the meantime, Dyke was 
regularly inflituted rector, 6th March, 1645, on the presentation 
of the patron. 

Dyke was the son of Jeremiah Dyke, of Epping, 1609 — 
1639. He had been vicar of Stansted Abbots, in Herts, to 
which living he was admitted December 10, 1640. He resigned 
that vicarage on his appointment to Parndon. Dyke was one 
of the 'Classisj' he signed the 'Essex Testimony' in 1648, as 
pastor of Parndon, and was still there in 1650, when he is 
returned as 'an able minister.' I have not been able to recover 
the christian name of Bastwick, nor can I ascertain anything 
about him beyond the fact that he was ejected here in 1662, 
and that he took the ' Oxford Oath,' in 1665. The institu- 
tion of his successor is given by Newcourt, ' Rob. Osbaldston, 
A.M., December 1, 1662, legitime vacan.' * 

Pattiswick. — Ralph Hilles. In 1641, January 8, the day 
when the inhabitants of Chignell petitioned against Uty, the 
inhabitants of this parish also petitioned against their minister, 
Thomas Dove. This step resulted in the removal of Dove 
from the incumbency. His successor seems to have been 
Patrick Weemes. January 10, 1646, the Committee for 
Plundered Ministers issued an order for ' Fifty pounds to be 
paid out of the tithes belonging to the Hospital of Great Ilford, 
sequestered from Richard Fanshawe, to and for the increase of 
the maintenance of Patrick Weemes, minister of the perpetual 
curacy of Patewicke.' The entry is signed ' Har. Grimstone.' 
It appears from the Parliamentary return in that year that 
Weemes was still there in 1650. 

We first meet with Hilles at Shalford. The Rev. J. Groomes, 
the present vicar of that parish, obliges me with a copy of the 
following entry relating to Hilles, in the parish register : ' Sarah 
Hilles, the daughter of Ralph Hilles, clerk, and Persis, his 
wife, was baptized the 10th day of August, 1645.' He was 
still at Shalford at the date of the constitution of the ' Classis,' 
but left almost immediately afterwards. We next find him 

* First Century, 39. The name is It is plain, however, that this is a mistake, 
given there as Henry and not William. Dyke, of Epping, ante. 



Blakeley, of Pebmarsh. 441 

signing the c Essex Testimony,' in 1648, and also the c Essex 
Watchword/ in 1649, as c minister of Ridgwell ;' he is also 
returned there, in 1650, as c a godly preaching minister, is 
vicar.' At what date he came to Pattiswick, I have not been 
able to ascertain. After his ejectment he still continued to 
reside in the parish, as, in 1669, he is reported to Sheldon as 
having a conventicle there. * 

Pebmarsh. — . Blakeley. Thomas Wilborow was presented 
to this living in 1634. At the breaking out of the civil war 
he took a very decided part with the Royalists, and it should 
also seem his personal unpopularity involved him in con- 
siderable annoyance from the mob. 8th April, 1643, there is 
the following entry in the Journals of the House of Commons : 
c An ordinance for sequestering the rents and profits of the 
parsonage of Pebmarsh, Coun. EfTex, whereof Thomas Wil- 
borough (sic) is parson, into the hands of certain sequestrators, 
named in the said ordinance, to the use and benefit of Thomas 
Brough, M.A., a godly, learned, and orthodox divine, who 
is hereby appointed and required to preach every Lord's day, 
and to officiate as parson, and to take care for the discharge 
of the cure of the said parsonage, in all the duties thereof, until 
further order shall be made by both Houses of Parliament.' 
This ordinance was carried to the Lords on the 21st, when 
the whole case underwent re-examination. The Lords that 
day ordered that notice shall be given to Thomas c Wil- 
broughe ' (sic), to appear. On the 9th of May, he not 
appearing, they had the charge against Thomas c Wylborough ' 
(sic) before them, and affidavit being made by the officers of 
the House, that they had served the order upon him, the Lords 
proceeded to hear evidence. One witness deposed that c he 
heard (him) say that Christ was corporally in the sacrament, 
and unless a man believe this he could not be saved ; ' another, 



* Cal. Ace. 312; Lands. MSS. 459 ; whom Elizabeth made a grant of the 

Lambeth MSS. 639; MSS. S. P. O., Hospital in 1572. N. ii. 346. Uty and 

Inter, eclxxxvi. 235. Fanlhawe was the Dove, ante p. 1925 Shalford, infra; 

lay impropriator of the tithes; probably Returns of 1669, ante p. 344. 
a grandson of Thomas Fanfhawe, to 



44 2 Henry Esday. 

that ' he suspended persons for not bowing at the name of 
Jesus;' and another, that c he heard him say the gospel had 
been too long in that placed The House, 'being satisfied with 
these premises, took the whole cause into consideration,' and 
adjudged, I, c that he should be attached and brought before 
them;' 2, 'that he shall be sequestered during the pleasure 
of this House;' and 3, 'that Thomas Burrowe (sic), M.A., 
shall officiate the cure, and receive the profits.' This was 
followed on the 2nd of June by an order to the ' next justice 
of the peace, or other his Majesty's officers, to give pos- 
session of the parsonage, according to the order of May 9,' 
Burroughs (sic) was of the ' Classis.' He was still there in 
1650, when he is returned as ' an able, godly minister.' It is 
possible that he was the same who was ejected from Cottes- 
brooke, Northamptonfhire. If so, he publifhed a sermon 
which he preached on the death of John Langham, ' a child 
of five and a half years,' which he dedicated to the father, 
Sir James Langham, 1657, 4to. ; and also ' Directions about 
preparing for Death.' 1675, 4to. I can ascertain no more 
about Blakeley than that ' he was very active and useful in 
his station. There was a license granted to the house of 
'Thomas Coke,' in this parish, in 1672, to be an Independent 
meeting place. * 

Pentloe. — Henry Esday. The rectory had been seques- 
tered from Edward Alfton, ' for that he hath attempted,' what 
now follows is totally unfit for publication, ' and was a forward 
maintainer and practiser of the late illegal innovations ; and 
hath expressed great malignancy against the Parliament, af- 
firming that they were set to make the laws by authority, and 
broke them without authority, which was mere hypocrisy ; and 
in his pulpit spake against the present defensive warre, pro- 
tefting that now, when every child lift up his sword to shed 

* Walker ii. 396; Jour. H. of C. iii. parish regifter, that Catherine, the wife of 

51, 62; Jour. H. of L. vi. 34, 37, 38 ; Burroughs (sic), was buried there, 9th 

Cal. Ace. 309; Burroughs, p. 2925 Oct., 1660, and, from a list of his pre- 

Lands. MSS. 459 ; Cal. Cont. 645. The decessors in his possession, that Burroughs 

Rev. R. A. Irby, the present rector of died in 1662. Cook, p. 209, et all $ see 

Cottesbrook, kindly informs me, from the also Harrison, Little Waltham, infra. 



Thomas Peck. 443 

innocent blood, it was high time for him to lift up his voyce like a 
trumpet; and did reade in his church declarations set out 
in his Majeftie's name, but refused to reade any declarations 
of Parliament ; and, at Chriftmas twelve months, having ap- 
pointed a communion, and all things were ready for it, and the 
parifhioners prepared, he turned and went away, refusing to 
deliver it, because the surplice was not there ; and falsely 
affirmed that the Parliament gathered great summes of money to 
enrich their own purses.' The immediate successor of Alflon 
was William Blackmore. He, however, had removed before 
June 23, 1647. 

We first meet with Esday at Gingrave, where he succeeded 
Richard Babbington. He was still there in 1649, when his 
name appears among the signatures to the c Essex Watchword;' 
but he must soon have removed to Pentlow, as the return for 
the parish in 1650 is, c held under a lease let by Mr. Alfton, 
Mr. Henry Esday, by sequeftration from Mr. Alfton, an able, 
godly preaching minifter.' Esday seems to have been of Peter 
House, Cambridge, where he took the degree of master, in 
1646. This was shortly before his settlement at Gingrave. 
He was succeeded at Gingrave by John Willis, who con- 
formed. As Alston recovered his living after the restoration, 
and retained it until his death, before December, 1675, Esday 
must have been ejected under the act of 1660. Calamy says 
that, ' he had a considerable estate left him by a relation after 
his ejectment. He lived and dyed privately in Hoxton 
Square, in the parish of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch.' I find a 
license granted to Henry Esday, to be 'a Prefbyterian teacher 
in his own house, at Koyles ' (as I read it), under date May 2, 
1672, and as usual, a license granted on the same day to his 
house, as a c Prefbyterian meeting house.' * 

Prittlewell. — Thomas Peck. He was admitted vicar May 
2, 1633, on the presentation of Robert, Earl of Warwick. His 
name appears in the parish register, together with those of one 

* Cal. Ace. 3075 Cont. 4765 The 15671, 73, 84; Lands. MSS. 4595 
First Century, 22 ; N. ii. 282, 469 ; Babbington, ante p. 259 ; License Book, 
Add. MSS. 15669, 527, 15670, 424, S. P. O., ante p. 340. 



444 Abraham Clyfford. 

hundred and sixty-one of his parishioners, attached to the solemn 
league and covenant in 1643. The next name following his 
is that of Samuel Freeborne. It also appears as attached to 
another document of a similar character in 1648, disapproving 
of the conduct of the army in the matter of the apprehenfion 
of the King. He was one of the c Classis ' in 1647, signed the 
'Essex Teftimony' in 1648, and the 'Essex Watchword' in 
1649, and is returned in 1650 as a c painful and religious 
preacher.' In 1654 his name is attached to a minute in the 
parish books relating to the appointment of Nathaniel Benson 
as 'regifter.' In that year also Peck was appointed one of the 
assiftants to the county commiffioners for the c removal of 
scandalous and insufficient minifters.' The entry in the Archi- 
diaconal Visitation Book for 1662 is, 'Thomas Peck, rect. (sic) 
vacat. rat. stat.' He died at Prittlewell, and, as appears from 
the regifters, which have been carefully searched for me by my 
friend, the Rev. J. Wager, with the kind permiffion of the 
vicar, he was buried there June 2, 1668. Calamy says of him 
that, ' he was efteemed a judicious and learned divine.' He 
publifhed 1. ' A Sober Guess at several myfteries in the 
Revelations.' 2. ' A Funeral Sermon for Mrs. Dorothy 
Freeborne.' This was one of the wives of Samuel Free- 
borne. 3. 'A Discourse upon the unseparable union between 
Christ and believers.' * 

The church at Prittlewell is a branch of that at Southend, 
which had its origin about 1799. The first paftor appears to 
have been Joseph Gilbert, a son-in-law of Isaac Tayler, and 
afterwards first tutor at Rotherham, and then paftor at Notting- 
ham. Gilbert was succeeded by . Ash, Ash by Andrew White, 
White by Richard Fletcher, and Fletcher by the Rev. James 
Wager, to whom I am indebted for this information. 

Quendon. — Abraham Clyfford. He was fellow of Pem- 
broke Hall, Cambridge, from which he was also ejected. He 
became rector here after 1650, as at that date John Denifer 
was the rector. The succeffion of John Nye or Ney is entered 

* Cal. Ace. 306} Cont. 474; Lands. MSS. 459 j Freeborne, ante p. 268. 



George Moxon. 445 

in Newcourt 27th August, 1662, c per cess. Clifford' (sic). 
After his ejectment, Clyfford studied physic, took his degree at 
Leyden, and was a licensed practitioner in the city of London. 
He also took his degree of M.D. in the Univerfity of Oxford 
in 1670, when he is described as c Secundarius a Secretis ' to 
the Prince of Orange. He died in the parish of St. Sepulchre, 
London, in the beginning of the year 1675. Clyfford publifhed 
c Methodus Evangelica \ or, the Gospel Method of God's saving 
sinners by Jesus Christ.' Lond. 1676, 8vo. Clyfford's suc- 
cessor, John Ney, had been ejected at Settingham, in Cam- 
bridgeshire, which may have been a sequeftration.* 

Rad winter. — George Moxon. The rectory had been seques- 
tered from Richard Drake. A petition from his parishioners 
against him and his curate, Thomas Garner, had been pre- 
sented to the House of Commons before 21st March, 1642, 
and on that day the House referred the petition, together with 
the articles annexed to it, to the Committee for Plundered 
Aainifters. The case would seem to have been long in hand, 
as on March 22, 1644-5, lt was referred by that committee 
to the county committee. Soon after this the sequeftration 
took place. By January 10, 1645, William Voyle had been 
appointed to the vacancy. On Voyle's removal to Hereford, 
after 1647, Thomas Reynolds was appointed to succeed him. 
Reynolds was still at Radwinter in 1650, as he is described in 
the Parliamentary return of that date as, 'a preaching minifter, 
put in by sequeftration from Richard Drake.' Moxon suc- 
ceeded Reynolds. 

George Moxon was the son of the minifter of the same name 
who was ejected from Astbury, in the county of Chefter. 
His father was a Yorkshire man, who was educated at Sidney 
College, Cambridge, and obtained great distinction as a Greek 
scholar in that University. He settled at Warrington, in 
Chefhire, but was driven thence by persecution into exile in 
1637. He then fled to New England, where he became paftor 
of the church at Springfield. He returned in 1653, an ^ shortly 

* Cal. Ace. 90 j Cont. 128 } Denifer, ante p. 286. 



446 Abraham Caley. 

settled at Ashbury. After his ejection, he preached at Con- 
gleton, where he died. George Moxon, of Radwinter, was 
brother-in-law to Shute, sheriff of London. After his eject- 
ment, which must have taken place under the act of 1660, as 
Drake recovered his living at the reftoration, Moxon became 
Shute's chaplain, and died in his house, the birth-place of 
Richard Baxter. The Rev. J. T. Bullock, the present rector 
of Radwinter, obliges me with the following entry in the hand- 
writing of Drake, on the front page of the parish regifter : — 
c Ego, Richardus Drake, in artibus septennium Magifter Aulae 
Pembrochianae apud Cantabrigienses perpetuus socius, et Presby- 
ter ad Rectoriam Eccliae Parochialis de Radwinter, per mortem 
naturalem. Joanis Montfort, S.T.B., vacantem, inductus fui, 
in vigilus . . . Nativitatis Dei Salvatoris, Anno Millefimo 
sexcentifTimo tricesimo octavo, Incarnationis Domini, seques- 
trato, ut loquntur Barbari me Richardo Drake, prorectoribus 
gerebant se Gulielmus Voyle, anno 1642. Tho. Renolds, 
anno . . George Moxon, anno. . .' Drake resigned before 
17th September, 1707, and is poflibly the same person that died 
chancellor and canon residentiary of Salifbury, in 168 1.* 

Rayleigh. — Abraham Caley. Calamy says that he had 
been preacher of Gray's Inn, London, but the Rev. A. B. 
Grosart, who has carefully searched the c Book of Orders,' of 
Gray's Inn, informs me that though he was appointed preacher 
and lecturer of the society, 13th January, 1662, c if he please 
to accept it,' there is no evidence of his acceptance of the 
post, and that on the 12th of November following, Mr. 
Craddock was chosen lecturer. It appears from the Visitation 
Book of the archdeaconry, after the reftoration, that Caley had 
received episcopal orders. He was, therefore, ejected simply 
for refusing to make the required declaration. He was pre- 
sented to the rectory of Rayleigh on the avoidance of the cure 
by the death of Stephen Vassal. His inftitution is dated 
24th January, 1643. He was one of the 'Claffis,' in 1647, 

* Cal. Ace. 128, 313; N. ii. 479; 15669, March 29, 1645; 238, 531, 
Wood, Fast. ii. 1865 Sheriff Shute, Mor. 15670, 12, 14, 121, 161, 187, 193, 226, 
ii. 22 ; Jour. H. of C. iii. 1 1 j Add. MSS. 443 j Voyle, .infra. 



William Clapton. 447 

and signed the c Effex Teftimony' in 1648, as he also did 
the c EfTex Watchword' in 1649. In 1650, he is returned as 
' a godly and learned divine.' His succeflbr at Rayleigh, 
Samuel Bull, was his nephew ; and c after his ejection, Caley 
spent part of his time with his relative, and part with a 
daughter, who was married to a gentleman of the county of 
Suffolk.' He died at Rayleigh. 'One day having retired to his 
chamber, and staying there much longer than ordinary, Mrs. 
Bull was afraid lest something might ail him, and therefore 
desired her husband to call him, which he did; but having no 
answer, he looked through some crevice in the door, and saw 
him sitting in an elbow chair, with his handkerchief in his 
hand, and in a leaning pofture. Mr. Bull thinking him 
engaged in contemplation, was unwilling to difturb him, and 
so retired ; but going some time after, and knocking hard, 
but receiving no answer, he broke open the door, and found 
him dead on the floor. He was a learned and humble man, 
of an unblameable conversation.' Caley publifhed, c A Glimpse 
of Eternity, very useful to awaken Sinners and to comfort 
Saints.' i2mo., Lond., 1704. The inftitution of his succeflbr 
is entered in Juxon's regifter as, c legit jam vacant.' *" 

Rettenden. — William Clapton. He was of a good Suffolk 
family, and was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 
where he took the degree of B.A. in 1632, and that of M.A. 
in 1637. We first meet with him at Great Horksley, which 
living had been sequeftrated from Thomas Eyre, who also held 
the rectory of Mile-end, Colchefter. He remained here, how- 
ever, only a quarter of a year, as on the 28th March, 1646, the 
Committee for Plundered Minifters caused an order to the 
sequestrators c to pay him for his services ' for that period. It 
would appear that the vicarage of Rettenden also had been 
sequeftered and from Charles Sutcliff, but Clopton did not 
immediately settle there on leaving Horksley. Joseph Sutcliff 

* Palmer ii. 212. His signature ap- been greatly indebted in the compilation 

pears in a copy of < Flavel on the Soul,' of these pages. Lands. MSS. 459 j 

in the possession of Mr. Jomua Wilson, Harl. MSS. 61005 N. 11.483. 
of Tunbridge Wells, to whom I have 



448 Daniel Ray. 

was on the c Classis ' in 1647, signed the c Essex Teftimony,' 
as minifter of Rettenden, in 1648, and was still there in 1650, 
when he is returned as ' by order from the Committee for 
Plundered Minifters, a very able and godly minifter.' 

Calamy says of Clopton, and as re£ior of Rettenden, that he 
had the c offer of a much better parish than he was in, but he 
refused it, because it was a sequeftration.' It would appear 
from this, that the sequeftered rector of Rettenden was either 
dead or had refigned before Clopton came there. Calamy adds 
that c Mr. Nathan Hewson, of Burnham, writing to him a 
little before Bartholomew Day, 1662, asked him 'what he 
intended to do ? ' Mr. Clopton answered, c he did not know 
what he should do ' c Oh ! ' said Mr. Hewson to him, ' never 
conform.' But he did not follow the advice himself, however, 
for when the day came he gave his c assent ' and c consent.' 
He afterwards sent Mr. Clopton a letter, in which he defired 
him to have care c what he did, for that Rettenden was a good 
living.' He wrote him back word that c he hoped he should 
keep a good conscience.' And he had afterwards a great deal of 
satisfaction in his witneffing against ecclefiastical impofition. 
He died in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and was buried in 
the same grave, and at the same time, with his friend, Mr. 
Philologus Sacheverel.* 

Ridgewell. — Daniel Ray. He was of St. John's College, 
Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A. in 1655, and 
that of M.A. in 1659. Calamy says that c he was minifter of 
Debden, in Suffolk, at the reftoration.' According to Walker, 
that living had been sequeftered from Thomas Tyllott, who 
also held one of the Saxhames in the same county. As Tyllott 
survived the reftoration, and recovered his living, Ray could 
not have remained here long, but he would hardly have been 
one of those ' who could not write either sense nor English,' 
as Walker says was the case with Tyllott's succeflbr, during 
the whole period of what he calls c the usurpation.' On his 
ejection from Debden, under the act of 1660, Ray came to 

* Cal. Ace. 310; Add. MSS. 15770, Eyre, ante p. 2375 Hewson, ante pp. 
103, 15671, 188 j Lands. MSS. 4595 273,2745 Sacheverel, infra. 



George Lisle. 449 

Ridgwell. His tay here also was but short. He was ejected 
under the Act f Uniformity. After his ejectment he con- 
tinued to reside here for some time. Calamy tells us that 
c after the indulgence, he and Giles Firmin set up a meeting 
here together.' I find that Ray took out a license to be a 
Prefbyterian teacher in c his own house, at Ridgwell,' 22nd 
of July, 1672, and that on the same day, c his house also 
was licensed to be a Presbyterian meeting place.' Calamy 
adds that, c in 1673, he removed to Burftal, in Suffolk, 
where, without any diffurbance from the incumbent, who 
had another living, he had the liberty of preaching every 
other Lord's day, which he continued to do till his death, in 
1677, in the forty-second year of his age.' 

The church gathered by Ray and Firmin, at Ridgwell, con- 
tinues to this day. In 1703, a meeting house was built. In 
17 16, the congregation is returned as containing six hundred 
c hearers,' of whom twenty-four had votes for the county of 
EfTex, one a vote for the county of Cambridge, and four had 
votes for the county of Suffolk ; and of whom also one is 
described as an 'esquire,' and thirteen as 'gentlemen.' George 
Lowe died paffor of the church in 1730. He was suc- 
ceeded by John Morgan, who removed to Ramsey. About 
1770, Humphrey Larwill, who was a Baptift, was the pastor. 
Larwill died in 18 13, and was buried in the meeting-yard. 
His successor was Joseph Drake, who was here in 18 16. 
Drake was succeeded by William Swier, and Swier by . Fish- 
pool, who left in 1833, and was succeeded by the present 
paffor, the Rev. S. F. Bridge. The present meeting house 
was erected in 1858, and enlarged in i860. * 

Rivenhall. — George Lisle. The recfory had been seques- 
tered from George Boswell, who was also recfor of North 
Bcnflete. It is clear, however, that Boswell still retained 
Benflete, as his name appears in the Parliamentary return for 
that parish in 1650, when he is described as c a preaching 
minifter, of good life and conversation.' Boswell's immediate 

* Cal. Ace. 305 ; Cont. 465 ; Baker, Morison and Blackburn MSS. j Returns 
MSS. Notes to Calamy ; Walker ii. 383 ; of 1716, p. 353 ; Firmin, infra. 457. 

I I 



450 "John Wood. 

successor was Richard Ward. The Rev. B. D. Hawkins 
obliges me with copies of the following entries in the parish 
regifter : ' Mem. I came to Rivenhall, February 8, 1647. 
Geo. Lisle. Abigail, daughter of Geo. Lisle, minifter of 
Rivenhall, was born March 29, 1651, about four of the clock 
in the "morning, and baptized on the same day; and was 
buried April 25. Elizabeth, June 27, 1652. George, 
November 29, 1653.' The Parliamentary return for Riven- 
hall, in 1650, speaks of him as ' an able, godly minifter.' 
It would appear that Boswell died before September, 1654, as 
at that date his successor at Benflete was admitted. George 
Lisle would now be regularly presented to the living. Hence 
he was not ejected until 1662. His successor is given thus 
in Newcourt : ' Ric. Argall, 3rd October, 1662, per incon- 
form. Lisle.' 

After his ejectment Lisle retired to Witham. In 1669, he 
is reported to Sheldon as having c a conventicle ' in that town. 
Calamy says that he was imprisoned for his nonconformity 
in Colchefter gaol. This report had probably something to 
do with that imprisonment. On the Declaration of Indulgence 
Lisle was still at Witham, as he took out two licenses, one 
for himself to be a ' Presbyterian teacher ' there, and another 
for his house to be a ' Presbyterian meeting place.' He died 
at Witham, and was buried in the church. The Rev. J. 
Bramfton kindly informs me that there is a tablet erected to 
his memory on the south side of the chancel, and within the 
rails, with the following inscription : c Near this place lieth 
interred the Rev. George Lisle, minifter of the gospel, and 
late rector of Rivenhall, who died in the seventy-fifth vear of 
his age. Buried March 31, 1687.* 

Roothing Abbots. — John Wood. The rectory had been 
sequeftered from Nicholas Burton, and, according to Walker, 
Wood was his immediate successor. Wood was afterwards 
appointed on the 'Classis' in 1647, and was one of the sub- 

* Cal. Ace. 304; Add. MSS. 15671, mentions the sequestration of Boswell, at 
227 ; Returns of 1669; License Book, Rivenhall, but takes no notice of his re- 
S. P. C. MSS. j Lands. MSS. Walker taming the living of Benflete, ii. 200 



Abbots Roothing. 451 

scribers to the c EfTex Teftimony ' in 1648. In 1650 he is 
returned as c a godly, preaching minifter.' He was ejected 
by the act of 1660, under which Burton recovered the living. 

The present congregation originated about the year 1698, 
with a London minifter, who was on a visit to Rockwood 
Hall. The good work thus commenced was afterwards 
carried on by Samuel Pomfret, then pastor of the Presbyterian 
church assembling in Gravel Lane, Houndsditch. The first 
minister of the church thus gathered at Abbots Roothing was 
Daniel Wilcox, who was ordained there in September, 1703. 
Three years afterwards Wilcox removed to London, where he 
became co-paftor with Thomas Doolittle. He was the author 
of, 1. ' A Confeffion of Faith, delivered at his ordination,' 
1703. 2. c The Saint's Satisfaction: a sermon occasioned 
by the death of the Rev. Geo. Lendall,' 17 16. 3. ' Abiding 
in Christ; a sermon on the death of the Rev. John Foxon,' 
1723. 4. c The Duty of holding fast the Form of Sound 
Words, referred to the Assembly's Catechisms and ConfeiTion 
of Faith; to which is added a list of the Divines in that 
assembly, the vow taken by every member at his entrance, 
with a word of his character,' 17 17. This last was publifhed 
anonymously. 5. After his death, sixty-four of his sermons 
were publifhed in three volumes, 8vo. These volumes reached 
a second edition in 1757. Wilcox was succeeded by Lauchlan 
Ross, a man who is deserving of a much more extended notice 
than it consifts with the limits of these pages to bestow. 
Under his miniftry the congregation enjoyed great prosperity 
for many years. In 1716, it is returned as containing five 
hundred persons, fifty-nine of whom had votes for the county, 
and one had a vote for Middlesex, and nineteen of whom are 
described as 'gentlemen.' It was during his miniftry that 
the present place of worfhip was erected ; it was opened in 
1730. Ross died in December, 1740, and was succeeded by 
George Ross, who, though bearing the same surname with his 
predecessor, was of a different family. George Ross removed to 
Matching, and was succeeded, in 1743, by John Cook. Cook 
resigned in 1778, and was succeeded by Ezekiel Offwood, 

1 1 2 



45 2 William Sandford^ Samuel Smith. 

who bequeathed a benefaction to the church at Stebbing ; 
Offwood by James Mc.Neeley; and Mc.Neeley by Thomas 
Eisdell. Eisdell was originally a member of the church at 
Coggefhall, from whence he was dismissed to become paftor 
over the Congregational church at Abbots Roothing, July 1 1, 
1784. He removed to Biggleswade, and was succeeded, in 
1790, by Joseph Corbifhley ; Corbifhley by Charles Bateman ; 
Bateman by Henry Stacey; and Stacey by the present minister, 
the Rev. Archibald Morrison. * 

Roothing White. — William Sandford. The rectory had 
been sequeftered from Charles, a nephew of Sir Thomas Laven- 
thorp, Bart., of Sabridge worth, in the county of Herts, and 
who succeeded to the baronetcy. He was presented to the living 
by Sit John, the brother of Sir Thomas, and was admitted 
22nd September, 161 7. The living was sequeftered to the 
use of (Thomas) Micklethwait. On the sequestration, the 
creditors of Laventhorp, who had some interest in the profits, 
petitioned the Committee for Plundered Ministers on the 
subject. This was in June, 1645. By September 29, 1645, 
it should appear that Micklethwait had left, and the living, the 
profits of which had been appropriated either in whole or in 
part for the satisfaction of the petitioning creditors, was se- 
queftered to the use of c Samuel Collins, for the present.' 
This Collins was still there in 1647, when his name appears 
on the c Classis.' In 1650, the return for the parish is : c It 
hath been leased for ^200.' It was, therefore, after this that 
Sandford settled there. He was ejected under the act of 1660, 
as Laventhorp recovered the living at the reftoration. Calamy 
says that Sandford was c a good scholar, much a gentleman, 
and very charitable.' f 

San don. — Samuel Smith. The rectory had been sequestered 
from the distinguished scholar and biblicist, Brian Walton. 

* Cal. Ace. 3145 Cont. 491; Mor. iii. 203 — 207; Dale, History of Cog- 

i. 138; Effex Remembrance, vol, iii., geshall, 215. 

1841,13 — 19,87,91; Returns of 171 6, f Cal. Ace. 311; Cont. 485; Add. 

p. 353 ; Wilson, History and Anti- MSS. 15669, 186, 249, 342 j Mor. ii. 

quities of Dissenting Churches, i. 397; 616; Micklethwait, infra. 



Brian Walton. 453 

Walton also held the rectory of St. Martin Orgar, London. 
Walker says that, in addition to his two rectories, he also held 
the prebend of Twyford, in the cathedral of St. Paul's; and, 
according to Wood, he was at the same time one of the 
chaplains to Charles I. He was born at Cleaveland, in the 
North Riding of Yorkfhire, in 1600. He first entered Mag- 
dalen College, Cambridge, where he was a sizar in 16 16, and 
afterwards removed to Peter-house. While there, he took his 
degree of B.A. in 1619, and that of M.A. in 1623. From 
Cambridge he went to a curacy, and the mafterfhip of a school 
in Suffolk. Thence he removed to London, and lived for a 
short time with Richard Stock, rector of All Hallows', Bread 
Street, and the predecessor of Daniel Featly and Philip Nye. 
January 15, 1635, he was admitted to the rectory of St. 
Giles'-in-the-Fields, and on the same day to that of Sandon. 
He was presented to both livings by the King. He shortly 
resigned St. Giles', and was succeeded there by William 
Haywood. * He was collated to his prebend at St. Paul's in 
1639, and in the same year he was also created D.D., of 
Cambridge. The date of his admiffion to St. Martin's Orgar 
does not appear in Newcourt, but it must have been soon 
after his settlement at Sandon. Walton early took a very 
decided part with the prelatists, ' During the controversy 
between the clergy and the inhabitants of Sandon about the 
tithes and rents,' says Walker, c he was very induftrious and 
active in the behalf of the former; and upon that occasion 
made so exact and learned a collection of cuftoms, prescrip- 
tions, laws, orders, proclamations, and compositions, for many 
hundred years together, an abstract of which was afterwards 
published relating to that matter, that the judge declared that 
there could be no dealing with the London minifrers if Mr. 
Walton pleaded for them.' The parifhioners of St. Martin's 
Orgar petitioned against him, and their petition was afterwards 
publifhed, under the title of ' Articles and Charges proved in 
Parliament against Dr. Walton, minifter of St. Martin's 

* Haywood, p. 238. 



454 Brian Walton. 

Orgar, in Cannon Street.' London, 1641, 4to. They com- 
plained that, 'he was a man of unquiet and unpeaceable 
carriage ; that he prosecuted such of his parifhioners as were 
not of his way of thinking; that, in 1637, in spite ofhis 
parifhioners, he removed the table, and set it altar-wise in the 
east end of the chancel, and then read part of the service at 
the altar ; that he neither preached nor catechyzed oftentimes, 
nor will permit his parifhioners to procure a preacher, though 
at their own charge ; that he extorted the ex-officio oath *" 
from his parifhioners ; and that he contemptuously asperseth 
those persons of quality and worth who at this time serve 
the Commonwealth in the honourable Houses of Parliament.' 
Walton refusing to appear, these charges were inveftigated in 
his absence, and he being besides a pluralist, his living of St. 
Martin's was sequeflered, but not, however, that of Sandon. 
Shortly after this he became involved as a political delinquent, 
and as such, on the 22nd of December, 1642, it was ordered 
by the House of Commons that he should be c forthwith sent 
for.' It does not appear that he was taken, he having fled 
to the King. It was now that the sequeftration at Sandon 
would seem to have taken place. As early as 1644, there is 
an entry in the minutes of the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters, to the effect that, c Whereas this committee have, 
the 8th day of July last, ordered that Dr. Walton, from whom 
the rectory of Sandon is sequeflered, should appear before the 
committee within six days after notice, to answer his contempt, 
for prohibiting the parifhioners of the said parish from paying 
of their tithes unto Mr. Smith, unto whom the said rectory 
is sequeftrated, in contempt of the said sequeftration ; who 
hath made no appearance, onelie a petition is presented in his 
behalf, which this committee have taken into consideration ; 
but there are produced against the said doctor three letters, by 
him written, to forbid the parifhioners from payment of their 
tithes to the said Mr. Smith. It is therefore ordered that the 
serjeant-at-arms of the House of Commons, or his deputy or 

Ex-officio Oath, pp. 77, 181. 



Brian Walton. 455 

deputies, do bring the said Dr. Walton in safe cuftodie before 
the committee, to answer his said contempt; and the sheriff 
of the said county, and all justices of the peace, the constables, 
and all other his Majesty's officers and loving subjects, are 
desired and hereby required to be aiding and agisting in the 
due execution hereof.' I find no evidence, however, of 
Walton's actual apprehension, neither do I of any of his 
alleged ill-treatment. 

According to Wood, Walton remained at Oxford until the 
declining of His Majesty's cause, when he returned to London, 
where he refided with William Fuller, the sequeftered rector 
of St. Giles', Cripplegate. He had already commenced, and 
in great part completed, the great work by which his name is 
so honourably distinguifhed — the c Biblia Polyglotta,' which 
was first publifhed in 1656-7. There is but one edition of 
the work itself, but there are evidently three editions of the 
preface. The first edition contains the following reference to 
Oliver Cromwell : ' Primo antem commemorandi, quorum 
favore chartam a vectigalibus immunem habuimus, quod quin- 
que ab hinc annis a concilio secretiori, primo concessum, 
postea a serenissimo D. Protectore ejusque concilio, operis 
promovendi causa, benigne confirmatum et continuatum erat.' 
The second edition omits the epithet c serenissimo,' and also 
the word ' benigne.' And in the third, which is addrefTed to 
Charles II., the reference to Cromwell is as follows : ' Cur 
vero aris tuis tabellam hauc votivam citius non appenderim, 
quod ab ipso suscepti operis initio decretum fuisse, .... 
omnis notum est, cum per infausta haec tempora, innuo erga 
Regiam Majestatem officium pro laesae Majestatis crimine 
haberetur, .... Insidiabatur enim partin nostro, Draco ille 
magnus et Tyrranidis suae mancipia, hoc agebat ut in ipso 
partu opprimeretur, nisi ipsi et patrono et protectori decretur. 
Deus vero ab ejus furore ilium servavit, et nunc gratanter 
verum parentem lustriacum palam profiteri audet, cujus patro- 
cinio fretus omnes adversariorum minas contemnit.' In the 
compilation of this noble work he was assifted by, among 
others, Edmund Castell and Samuel Baker, and towards the 



45 6 Brian Walton. 

expenses he received contributions, among others, from Castle ; 
William, Lord Petre ; and William, Lord Maynard.* A 
month before the 'Polyglot' was published, January 16, 
1656-7, it was ordered by the ' Grand Committee for Religion ' 
that ' it be referred to a sub-committee, to send for and advise 
with Dr. Walton, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Castle, Mr. Clark, Mr. 
Poulk, Dr. Culworth, and such others as they shall think fit, 
and to consider of the translations and impreffions of the Bible, 
and to offer their opinions thereon to this committee ; and that 
it be especially commended to the Lord Commiftioner White- 
lock to take care of this bufiness.' ' The committee,' says 
Whitelock, c often met at my house, and had the most learned 
men in the Oriental tongues to consult with in this great busi- 
ness, and divers excellent and learned observations of some 
milt.akes in the translation of the Bible in English, which yet 
was agreed to be the best of any translation in the world. I 
took pains in it, but it became fruitless by the diffolution of 
the Parliament.' The Parliament was difTolved February 4. 

At the reftoration Walton recovered posseflion of Sandon, 
and, as it should seem, previously to the printing of the third 
edition of his preface and the fulsome dedication to Charles II., 
Walton petitioned the King for the recliory of Winwick, in 
the diocese of Chefter, and the county of Lancafter, on the 
plea that, he had been c for eighteen years sequeftered from his 
ecclefiastical preferments and from the exercise of his functions, 
and also plundered of all his personal eftate for his loyaltie, 
and for his conftant adherence to the Church of England.' 
He obtained, however, something better. He was appointed 
Bifhop of Chefter, to which office he was consecrated at West- 
minfter Abbey, December 2, 1660. Walton died in his house 
in Aldersgate Street, London, November 19, 1661, and was 
buried in the south aisle of St. Paul's Cathedral. 

Smith's name appears on the ' Claffis,' also among the 
subscribers to the ' Effex Teftimony ' in 1648. He is reported 
in 1650 as, 'an able preaching minifter.' He was buried 

* Castle, p. 271, 299 5 Baker, infra. 



Giles Firmln. 457 

April 2, 1662. Calamy says of him, that c he was a judicious 
divine.' * 

Shalford. — Giles Firmin. He was a native of Ipswich, 
where he was born in the year 16 14, and matriculated in the 
University of Cambridge, December, 1629. His conversion 
is ascribed to the ministry of John Rogers, at Dedham, who, 
c observing him and some others crowding into the church on a 
week day, cried out, with his usual familiarity, c here are some 
young ones for Christ. Will nothing serve you, but you must 
have Christ ? Then you shall have him.' ' Firmin applied 
himself to the study of physic when at Cambridge, and emi- 
grated with his father, of the same christian name with himself, 
to New England in 1632, f and joined the church there about 
the same time as his father did ; he next went to Boston, but 
soon removed to Ipswich, where he received a grant of one 
hundred and twenty acres of land in 1638. He practised in 
New England as an apothecary and phyfician, and acquired for 
himself the reputation of an accomplished anatomist. There 
he also married Susanna, daughter of Nathaniel Ward. J In 
1648 he succeeded Ralph Hilles, at Shalford, where he was 
ordained, being then about forty years of age, by Stephen 
Marshall and other minifters. The Rev. S. Groomes, the 
present vicar of that parish, obliges me with several entries in 
the regifter, from one of which it appears, that after the 
removal of Ralph Hilles the parish was deftitute of a minifter 
for 'one whole year.' The return for 1650 is, c Mr. Giles 
Firmin, by order of the Committee for Plundered Minifters, 
an able, godly preacher.' There are several letters written by 
him to Richard Baxter, during his incumbency here, among 

* Walker ii. 53; Add. MSS-.- 15671, ed. iv. 283. Cal. Ace. 3135 Lands. 

232; Jour. H. of C. ii. 872; Lands. MSS. 459. Peck, ' Desiderata Curiosa,' 

MSS. } MSS. S. P. O. Charles II., 1660 ; vol. ii. 

Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 47 ; Newcourt i. f He and his father seem to have 

223. Todd's Life of Walton. 'Feb. 16, gone from Sudbury in the company 

1656, Dr. Walton published the < Poly- which was joined by John Wilson. See 

glot Bible.' Whitelock, Memorials, 654, ante. Farmer, Genealogical Register 

where also see the appointment of the of First Settlers in N. E., 105. 
Committee for a New Translation, Oxf. J Ward, p. 464. 



45 8 Giles Firmin. 

the Baxter MSS. in the Redcross Street Library, In 1654, 
Firmin says, c I am a stranger to you, as you to me ; yet you 
are more known to mee than I to you by your learned works 
.... which while I peruse .... I must say .... to 
the free grace of God be all the glory of that grace, and those 
gifts which he hath most freely beftowed upon you. For Essex 
we are gospel .... glutted, profeflion and these separatifts 
have almost undone us. We have some good minifters, but 
for men of eminence, since Mr. Daniel Rogers died, and Mr. 
Marfhall and Mr. Owen went away, we have only Mr. New- 
comen, of Dedham, left.' In 1656, he says, c Essex is in an 
ill pofture. Mr. Newcomen is going to Ipswich, as I heare, 
and another I heare is going, one who is one of our chiefs, 
Mr. (John) Warren, whom you know I look on as one of 
the ablest men we have, but I think there is no county in 
England where there is lesse work done in converfion.' In 
1657, Firmin was very active in procuring signatures to c The 
Agreement of the Associated Minifters of the county of Essex, 
proposed to particular congregations and to all such of the 
county as love the church's peace ; with a word of exhortation 
to brotherly union.' This agreement was publifhed in 1658, 
but without the names of the subscribing minifters, in a 4to. 
pamphlet of thirty-three pages. In the preface to the reader 
the minifters say : c Oh that we had not to bewail the dissatis- 
factions . . . among brethern of the same household of faith, 
and these arifing chiefly from less and lower points and puncti- 
lioes, when in fundamentals and the main there is so great an 
accord. Therefore, when souls are famifhing, truth lies 
bleeding, divisons combining, enemies insulting, dangers and 
difficulties not abating; and, which far transcends all that can 
be said, all this likewise when our calamitous condition is not 
utterly hopeless, but like the patient languishing, not from utter 
defect of remedy, but want of the physician's willingness to 
joyn together, study the case, and apply the cure. For these 
things, the conceived expedient is a brotherly association, 
shewing the hitherto hindered union to arise not so much from 
difference of principles as from defect of will and inclination, 



Giles Fir min. 459 

and this from a grand failing in brotherly love.' The c Agree- 
ment ' is an elaborate exposition of the principles, both of 
doctrine and of discipline, on which the members of the 
association declare themselves to be agreed and call on others 
to unite with them. 

The following passages from a letter written by Firmin to 
Baxter, November 14, 1660, will exemplify the working of 
many minds as the crisis of the Act of Uniformity was ap- 
proaching : c Glad I am the Lord hath given you such favor 
in the eyes of our King that you are so neare unto him. I 
wish His Majesty the same yourself doe, a spiritual bleffing to 
your being neare him. What your laboures with the rest of 
our honoured and godly divines have been towards the healing 
of the breaches .... I perceive by His Majestie's declara- 
tion. I do not think things are there in all pointes as you 
would, but as you can. I believe you have found it difficult 
work to get so farre, and it is a mercie that your King, all 
things considered, is so moderate as he is. What the Par- 
liament will do, or a synod, which I desire, I cannot tell ; 
for forms of prayer .... in that point I am troubled. I 
perceive that formes of prayer .... will not downe in our 
parts .... I am of Mr. Warring's (John Warren), your 
and my friend's minde, we shall quite undoe our miniftry if 
we shall yielde to anything which men now put upon us, if we 
cannot convey it directly from the Word, which we tell our 

people is our rule ' Then follows a pafTage not very 

legible, in which he predicts the retirement of the ' godly 
minifters,' and the return of such as are c drunkards, gamefters, 
&c, fit men to advance the power of godliness.' Firmin thus 
continues : c Though I cannot judge such episcopacy as is 
mentioned to be divine, yet if other men will take any power 
away from me, and will by their power purge my conscience 
from ignorance, so they will not force me to owne their power 
as being of divine authoritie, I will not oppose them, and 
would willinglie live under such a bifhop if I could, for some 
episcopacies I owne.' When he refused to conform, Firmin 
had seven children dependant upon him, and was entirely 



460 Giles Firmin. 

without resources. c After his ejectment/ says Calamv, c the 
church doors were shut up for several weeks, nay months, and 
God had no public worfhip there. And he complains that 
it was also so in several other places, in his l Oueftion between 
the Conformist and Nonconformist truly stated in answer to 
Dr. Falkner, p. 29.' Firmin shortly retired to Ridgwell, 
where 'he practised physic for a maintenance, and was still 
a constant and laborious preacher, both on the Lord's days 
and on week days.' 

In the Visitation Book of the archdeaconry there is an entry 
of proceedings taken, in 1662, against William Augar, John 
Cutts, John Dawson, and Sarah Rust, for standing excom- 
municate. December 1, 1672, Firmin took out a license for 
his house at Ridgwell to be a ' Prefbvterian meeting place,' 
and also one for himself to be a 'teacher' there. He died at 
Ridgwell, according to Calamv, ' the Saturday after he had 
preached his last two sermons on the Lord's day, in April, 
1697. His loss was generally lamented all the countrv round.' 

Firman publifhed, 1. 'A Serious Question Stated, whether 
the Alinifters of England are bound by the Word of God to 
baptize the children of all such parents which say they believe 
in Jesus Christ, but are grossly ignorant, scandalous in their 
conversation, Sec. 3 4to., 1651. 2. 'A Treatise against sepa- 
ration from the Miniftrv and the Church of England.' 4to., 
1652. 3. ' The Real Chriftian; or, a Treatise of Effectual 
Calling.' 4to., 1653. 4' ' A Reply to Mr. Cawdry, in 
defence of the Serious Queftion Stated.' 4to., 1653. 5. 
' Establishing against Shaking ; or, a Discovery of the Prince 
of Darkness, scarcely transformed into an Angel of Light, 
powerfully now working in the deluded people called Quakers.' 
4to., 1656. 6. 'The Power of the Civil Magistrate in 
matters of Religion, vindicated in a Sermon of Air. Marshall's, 
with Mr. Firmin's notes.' 4to., 1657. 7. ' A Treatise of the 
Schisme of Parochial Congregation in England, and of Ordi- 
nation by Imposition of Hands ; in answer to Air. Owen, of 
Schisme, and Air. Noye's, of N. E., Arguments against 
Imposition of Hands in Ordination.' 1658, 8vo. 8. ' Prefbv- 



Zechariah Fitch. 461 

terian Ordination Vindicated, in a brief discourse concerning 
Episcopacy.' 4-to., 1661. 9. c Liturgical Considerations, or 
a brief examination of Dr. Gauden's Considerations concerning 
the Liturgy of the Church.' London, 1661, 4-to. 10. 'The 
Plea of the Children of Believing Parents for their interest 
in Abraham's Covenant, their Right to Church Memberfhip 
with their parents, and their Title to Baptism ; in answer to 
Mr. Danvers.' 1683, 8vo. 11. c The Queftions between the 
Conformist, and the Nonconformist truly stated and briefly 
discufTed; in answer to Dr. Falkner and the Family Debate.' 
1683, 4-to. 12. c Scripture Warrants sufficient proof for 
Infant Baptism; a reply to Mr. Grantham's Presumption no 
Proof.' 1688, 8vo. 13. 'An Answer to Mr. Grantham's 
Vain Queftion put to and charged upon Mr. Firmin, in his 
book intituled the Infant's Advocate.' 1689, 4to. 14. 
4 Weighty Queftions discussed about Imposition of Hands, 
about ruling elders, and the members meeting in one place.' 
1692, 4to. 14. ' Of Imposition of Hands, and the Conftitu- 
tion of Churches; with the Predictions of Daniel Rogers.' 
London, 1692. 15. ' A Brief View of Mr. Davis' Vindica- 
tion giving no satisfaction.' London, 1693, 4to. 16. c Some 
Remarks on the Anabaptift's Answer to the Athenian Mer- 
curies.' 4to. 17. ' Remarks upon some passages of Mr. 
Crisp.' * 

Shelley. — Zechariah Fitch. He was of Emmanuel College, 
Cambridge, where he matriculated as a penfioner, July 5, 
1632, took the degree of bachelor in 1635-6, and that of 
mafter in 1639. We first meet with him at Twinfted, where 
we find him on the ' Classis,' and also signing the ' Essex 
Teftimony ' in 1648, and the c Essex Watchword ' in 1649. 
He was still at Twinfted in 1650, when he is returned as ' a 
godly, able, preaching minifter.' At that date Edward Green 
was rector of Shelley. It would seem that Green soon after- 
wards died, and that Fitch became his successor. In 1653 

* Cal. Ace. 297 ; Cont. 458 ; Prince's MSS. 459 ; License Book, S. P. O., see 
Annals N. E. ii. 2, p. 70 ; Mass. Hist. ante p. 340 ; see Ridgwell ; John War- 
Colt. 2nd ser. iv. 126, vii. 69 5 Lands. ren, of Hatfield, ante p. 404. 






4-6 2 George Bound. 

Fitch was one of the ministers who took part in the ordination 
of Calamy, Borphet, and Roberts, at Moreton. In the minutes 
of the Archidiaconal Visitation of 1662 there is this entry : 
c Mr. Zecharias Fitch, rector, vac, rat. stat.' Fitch died at 
Cockerells, in the parish of Havering, and was buried at 
Romford, February 10, 1687. The admiffion of his succeffor 
is also given in Juxon's register as, ' de jure vacat.' * 

Shenfield. — George Bound. He was the son of Nicholas 
Bound, who was rector of Wickford, in this county, a brother 
of Alexander Bound, and a nephew of the celebrated John 
Dod. George was first settled at Kelvedon Hatch, for which 
cure he was recommended by the Committee for Plundered 
Ministers to the Assembly of Divines, October 25, 1645. 
The rectory had been sequestered from Stephen Withers, c for 

that he hath solicited oftentimes the wife and hath 

not only practised altar-worfhip, but urged his people to receive 
the sacrament at the railes; and in his church read the booke 
for prophanation of the Sabbath by sports ; and will not 
suffer his people to have but one sermon on the Lord's day, 
though at their charge; and hath expressed great malignity 
against the Parliament*' f The immediate successor of Withers 
was Nathaniel Bettes. Bound is called Browne in the 'Classis,' 
which is probably a misprint, his name also appears among the 
subscribers to the ' Essex Testimony,' and the ' Essex Watch- 
word.' The Rev. John Banister, the present rector of Kelve- 
don Hatch, kindly obliges me with the following extracts from 
the parish registers there : c 1643, Baptizatus, Nathaniel Bettes, 
filius Mri. Bettes, rectoris hujus ecclesiae. June 17, Sepultus- 

# Ante p. 42.7; Cal. Ace. 3075 Harfordiae per septennium sub Hooker et 
Cont. 464 ; Lands. MSS. 459 ; Notes Stone, Munere pastorali fundus est Say- 



Ace. 


3°75 


459 5 


Notes 


Dec. 


1862; 


MSS. 


, Col. 



and Queries, Aug. 30, and Dec. 1862; brook, An. 14. Illinc Norvicem emi- 

Symonds' Notes, Leake MSS., Col. gravit. Obdormivit in Jesu, An. 1702, 

Mus. Two brothers of the name fled Nov. 18. Aet. 80. Vi concionandi 

to New England from Bocking, in 1638. nulli secundus.' Zechariah was probably 

Thomas, who settled at Norwalk, in one of this branch of the Essex Fitch 

Connecticut, and James, whose hiftory is family. Farmer, Geneal. Register, 1075 

thus related on his tomb : * Natus fuit Mather, Hist. N. E. 
apud Bocking, 1662, Dec. 24, in Nov f The First Century, 2. The omitted 

Angliam venit, aet. 16. Vitam degit sentences are unfit for publication. 



Shen field. 463 

erat, Nathaniel Bettes, filius Mri. Bettes. Jan. 19, 1646 : July 
ye sixteenth, George Bound, rector of the parish of Kelvedon, 
was maryedto Abigail Graves, of Chipping Ongar. Nathaniel 
Bound, ye son of George Bound, minister of Kelvedon, and 
Abigail, his wife, was baptized ye 8th day of October, 1648. 
Susanna Bound, ye daughter of George Bound, rector of Kel- 
vedon, and Abigail, his wife, was baptized the 20th day of 
March, 1649. Susan Bound, a daughter of Nicholas Bound, 
late of Wickford, was buried the 25th day of August, 
1649. Thomas Bound, the son of George Bound, minister of 
Kelvedon, and Abigail, his wife, was baptized March 31, 
1651. John Fuller, of Much Waltham,was married to Alice 
Bound, of Kelvedon Hatch, October 19, 1652.' In 1650 
Bound is returned as c a noble, godly, preaching minister, 
placed by the Committee for Plundered Ministers, Mr. 
Withers, the late incumbent, being lately dead.'* He removed 
to Shenfield about 1654. 

The living of Shenfield had been sequestered from John 
Childerley in 1643. Childerley was of St. John's College, 
Oxford. When a junior fellow of that house he became 
preacher to the English merchants at Stode \ on his return he 
became chaplain, first to Bancroft, and afterwards to Abbot, 
Archbifhop of Canterbury. In May, 1599, he became rector 
of St. Mary Woolnoth, which he refigned in 1609, an ^ m 
June, 1606, he was presented by James I. to the rectory of St. 
Dunfton's-in-the-East. It was about this last date that he 
became rector of Shenfield. In 1643 ne was ' ver 7 a g e< V an <i 
Wood says that he was c also blind.' The ordinance for the 
sequeftration of Shenfield was made by the House of Commons, 
April 18, of that year, and on the 23rd it was sent up to the 
House of Lords. The case was then re-inveftigated by the 
Upper House, and Childerley was summoned to appear on 
the 28th. On the 29th there is the following entry in the 
Journals : c Upon reading the petition of John Childerley, 
D.D., shewing that he willingly consents and submits himself 

* Lands. MSS. 459. The name here also is given as Browne. 



464 Nathaniel Ward. 

to the ordinance of sequeftration, humbly defiring that the 
arrears of rents and tithes, due to him at Lady-day last, may be 
allowed him, and that the provifions which he hath in his house 
and barn, as wood and hay, may be allowed him, and he per- 
mitted to dispose of them as he shall think fit, which this 
House granting, the Lords read the sequeftration, and passed 
it.' The living was then sequestered to the use and for the 
benefit of Henry Goodyere, and at the request of the pa- 
rishioners. Goodyere was still there July 21, 1647. His 
successor was Nathaniel Ward."* 

Nathaniel was the son of John Ward, of Haverhill. He 
was originally intended for the law. c Afterwards travelling 
with certain merchants into Pruifia and Denmark, and having 
discourse with David Paraeus, at Heidelberg, from which he 
received much direction, at his return into England he settled 
at Standon.' We find his name among the subscribers to the 
petition in favour of Thomas Hooker, in 1629, as rector of 
that parish. In Laud's account of his province, for 1633, 
there is the following reference to him : ' Having heretofore, 
after long patience and often conference, proceeded against 
Nathaniel Ward, parson of Standon, in Essex, to excommuni- 
cation and deprivation, for refusing to subscribe to the articles 
establifhed by the canon of the church (of which I certified 
last year), I have now left him under the sentence of excom- 
munication.' Ward remained in England until 1634, when 
he removed to America. He there became pastor of the 
church at Ipswich, and 'had Nathaniel Rogers for his assistant.' 
Here one of his daughters married Giles Firmin. His son 
John, who was born at Haverhill, accompanied him to New 
England, where he became pastor of the church at Haverhill, 
in 1 641, John died in America, at the advanced age of 
eighty-eight, continuing to preach to within a month of his 
decease. In 1646, Ward returned to England, and ultimately 
succeeded Henry Goodyere, but at what date I have not been 

* Wood. Fafti. i. 157; Newc. i. 334, Jour. H. of C. ib.j Add. MSS. 15671, 
463, ii. 526 ; Jour. H. of C. iii. 45, 53 ; 526. 
Jour. H. of L. vi. 15, 21; Goodyere, 



Robert Watson, John Reeve. 465 

able to ascertain. In 1650 he is returned as of Shenfield, 
c by sequestration, an able preaching minister.' He died at 
Shenfield in 1653, at the age of eighty-three. Ward pub- 
lifhed his brother Samuel's c Jethro's Justice of the Peace,' 
a sermon preached in 1623, with a dedication to Sir Francis 
Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England. To this he appended 
a letter to his brother, dated at c Elbing, in Prussia.' Mather 
says, c He was the author of many composures, full of wit 
and sense, among which that entitled the ' Simple Cobbler ' 
(which demonstrated him to be a subtle statesman), was most 
considered.' * 

I have not been able to trace Bound's course at Shenfield. 
He was ejected under the act of 1660, when he was succeeded 
by John Kidby, who had been sequestered at Kirby. Bound 
died before August, 1662. f 

North Shoebury. — Robert Watson. We first meet with 
him at Cranham, where he was in 1644, and where he is 
returned in 1650, as ' an able, godly preaching minister-' At 
that date the return for Shoebury is, c William Hawksby, 
reputed a godly man.' Watson would seem to have been 
Hawksby's succefTor.J 

Springfield Boswell. — John Reeve. The rectory had 
been sequestered from Richard Freeman, who also held the 
rectory of St. James', Garlick Hill, London. According to 
Walker, Freeman had been presented to St. James' by the 
Parliament, on the sequestration of Edward Marbury. It 
should appear that he was sequeftered for political delinquency. 
January 3, 1645, Fofter Ouldfield was recommended by the 
Committee for Plundered Minifters to the Assembly of Divines 
to ascertain his fitness for the vacancy. In 1650, William 
Banchos, to whom the rectory of the adjoining parish had 

* Newc. ii. 544; Mather, Hift. of N. f Cal. Ace. 3025 Nich. Bound, 

E. iii. 31 j Massachusset's Hist. Soc. iii. Cooper, Ath. Cant. ii. 144, 551 ; Kidby, 

141, 148} Ward's Works appended to N. ii. 8535 Add. MSS. 15669, May 10, 

Adams iii. NichoFs ed. 18625 Rufh- 1645,234; Walker i. 57. 

worth ii. 301 j 'Trial and Troubles of J Cal. Ace. 314; Lands. MSS. 459 ; 

Laud;' Lands. MSS. 459; see also Hawkfby, pp. 261, 271. 
ante pp. 119, 174. 

K K 



466 Chelmsford. 

been sequeflered from Robert Tourney, May 11, 1647, is 
reported as having both the rectories, c an able, godly preacher.' 
At what date Reeve succeeded Banchos I have not been able 
to ascertain. At the restoration Freeman petitioned Charles 
for some preferment. His petition was accompanied by a 
certificate, c that he was a man of laudable life and unblame- 
able conversation ; a faithful son of the Church of England, 
for which he hath suffered the spoiling of his goods and the 
sequeftration of his living ; and that he is orthodox according 
to the articles of the Church of England.' He, of course, 
recovered Springfield, but it does not appear that he recovered 
St. James', nor can I find that he had any other preferment. 
He died before 16th December, 1661, and was succeeded by 
William Pindar. 

After his ejectment Reeve remained at Springfield, where 
he continued to preach. In 1669, he is reported to Sheldon as 
having c a conventicle' there. April 30, 1672, he took out 
a license to be a c Presbyterian teacher,' in his house at 
Springfield, and another for his house at Springfield to be a 
' Presbyterian meeting place.' About this time, if not before 
this, he also preached at Chelmsford, as, on the 9th of May 
following, he took out a third license to be a ' Presbyterian 
teacher in his house at Chelmsford,' and a fourth, for his 
house to be a ' Presbyterian meeting place.' We next hear 
of him as the successor of Thomas Brooks, the ejected minifter 
of St. Mary Magdalen, Fish Street Hill, who gathered a con- 
gregation in London after his ejectment, and died in 1680. 
Calamy says, c he was imprisoned in Newgate, and probably 
died there.' Reeve publifhed, ' A Funeral Sermon for Thomas 
Brooks,' and also a c Metrical Paraphrase on the Canticles.' * 

Reeve's congregation at Chelmsford continued to meet after 

* Cal. Ace. 304; Cont. 467; Free- 16455 on tnat date ^ was presented to 

man, Walker ii. 170; Newc. ii. 5385 John Hawkins. Add. MSS. 15669, 

S. P. O. MSS. Dom. Ser. Charles II. ; 230, 254. Banchos, Add. MSS. 15671, 

Ouldfield, Add. MSS. 15669, 230; 14; Lands. MSS. 459 ; Returns of 1669, 

Tourney, N. ii. 539. Springfield had ante p. 345 j License Book, p. 340. 
been sequeflered from Tourney, Aug. 6, 



Henry Havers. 467 

his removal to London. Edward Rogers, an ejected minifter, 
seems to have been Reeve's successor. He died in 1703. 
Before the year 17 16, a meeting house had been erected. 
About the same time a separation seems to have taken place, 
which resulted in the erection of a second place of worfhip. 
The pastor at the old meeting, in 17 16, was Nathaniel 
Hickford. The congregation is then returned as containing 
seven hundred hearers, of whom twenty are described as 
having votes for the county, and eighteen as c gentlemen.' 
Hickford died in 1765, and was succeeded by William 
Johnson. The first paftor at the new meeting was Richard, 
the father of the well-known Nathaniel Lardner. Lardner 
was succeeded by John Green; Green by Anthony Mayhew ; 
Mayhew by Samuel Philips ; and Philips by John Gibbons. 
After the death of Gibbons, in 1763, the two churches 
united, but not long afterwards they separated again. In 1799, 
William Cooper became pastor at the old meeting. He was 
succeeded by Joseph Gray ; Gray by the Rev. Sam. Eaftman ; 
Eaftman by the Rev. George Martin ; and Martin by the 
present minister, the Rev. Theodore Hook. In 1773, Edward 
Bryant was pastor at the new meeting. He was succeeded 
by Samuel Douglas \ Douglas by John Hunt ; Hunt by James 
Dean ; Dean by Julius Mark j Mark by the Rev. Robert 
Bowman ; and Bowman by the present minifter, the Rev. 
George Wilkinson. * 

Stambourne. — Henry Havers. He was a native of this 
county, and was of Katherine Hall, Cambridge. We first 
meet with him at Chipping Ongar. While there he was 
chosen on the c Classis.' About 1648, he removed to Fifield, 
where he succeeded Conftantine Jessop. 

The rectory of Fifield had been sequeftered from Alexander 
Reade, who was inftituted November 15, 1630. The order 
for the c sequeftration of the profits of the living for the use 
of Conftance (sic) Jessop,' who was thereby ' required to 
officiate the cure until further orders should be made,' passed 

* Rogers, infra ; Returns of 17 16, ante p. 3535 Morison and Blackburn MSS. 

K K 2 



468 Fifield. 

the House of Commons, April n, 1643, and two days after- 
wards it was sent up to the House of Lords. On the 23rd 
the Lords issued writs for the appearance of Reade, and the 
witnesses, at their bar, and on the 9th of May the case was 
before them. Reade was present, and ' the charge being 
read, he was demanded what answer he could make ; and he 
denied he was guilty of any of the particulars, only he bowed 
to the table inftead of the altar, and he confessed he read the 
Book for Sports on the Sabbath day, but did not speak for it.' 
Evidence was then heard, when two witnesses deposed, that 
' they heard Dr. Reade say, in the church, after the reading 
of the Book of Sports on the Sabbath day, that it was lawful 
for the young men to sport on the Sabbath day ;' two, that c he 
said that we must obey the bifhops' commands, set over us 
by God, though they be errors in religion, for our part is 
obedience ;' one, that c he said it was a fitting thing for men 
to cross themselves on the forehead when they came into 
church ;' two, that c he refused to read the ordinances of 
Parliament ;' two, that c he preached openly that it was utterly 
unlawful for any people to take up arms for the defence of 
religion, and that none but Brownifts and Anabaptifts are of 
another opinion, and that it is better to suffer for religion than 
to take up arms for the defence of it ;' three, that c he prayed 
that the laws in Queen Marie's days might be re-eftablished 
as they were in her days, and this was a quarter of a year ago ;' 
and four, that c he was a compurgator in the ecclesiaftical 
court for his man and maid, who had committed . . . .' The 
entry in the Journals proceeds to say, ' Dr. Reade confessed. 
The Lords having heard the proofs, took the whole business 
into consideration.' On the nth, their lordfhips adjudged, 
' that Dr. Reade, for his offences, shall be sequeftered both 
from the profits and officiating in the parish church of Fifield 
for the space of six whole months ; and that Conftant (sic) 
Jessop, M.A., shall officiate the said cure, and the profits to 
be sequestered in the hands of indifferent persons, who are to 
receive the same, and pay the half to Dr. Reade and the other 
half to Constant Jessop.' On the 16th, it was further ordered, 



Henry Havers. 469 

c that those dues belonging to Dr. Reade for the time past, 
before the sequeftration, be paid to him.' And on the day- 
following, c on Reade's humble petition,' it was ordered that 
c the minister that is appointed to officiate the cure shall make 
choice of a convenient chamber to reside in during that time, 
and Dr. Reade is to pay rent of the same ; and further, that 
Dr. Reade shall nominate two men, and the minifter two men 
more, indifferent persons, for receiving the profits and tithes 
of the said living of Fyfield.' This amended order of the 
House of Lords would seem to have been sent back to the 
Commons, and after some delay, it received their sanction. 
Further proceedings evidently followed, which I have not been 
able to trace, in consequence of which the sequestration was 
perpetuated until the decease of Reade, which took place, 
the Rev. H. Gibson, the present rector, kindly informs me 
from the parish registers, in January, 1649. * Anthony 
Walker, who afterwards conformed, was now presented to the 
living by the Earl of Warwick, and Havers continued to 
officiate the cure until the Michaelmas of 1650. This is 
stated in as many words in the Parliamentary return for that 
year. Mr. Gibson obliges me with copies of two entries in 
the parish register, from which it appears that c Philip, son 
of Henry Havers, was baptized at Fifield, May 22, 1650,' 
and that ' Mrs. Havers was buried there on the same day.' 

At the date of the Parliamentary return, so often quoted in 
these pages, c Mr. John Paynell' was at Stambourne, c an able, 
godly minifter.' He must have avoided shortly afterwards, and 
Havers then succeeded to the rectory, to which, being a crown 
living, he would be presented by the Parliament. Calamy says 
that he was ordained by the Presbytery in London, and that, 
when rector of Stambourne, he refused to take the engagement. 
He was ejected by the Act of Uniformity. The inititution 
of his successor, Robert Cooke, who already held the vicarage 
of Great Mapleftead, is given by Newcourt thus: 'nth 
November, 1662, per inconformitatem ult. rectoris.' 

* Jour. H. of C. iii. 40,42, 58, 301 ; Jour. H. of L. vi. 15, 37, 42, 48, 49, 



47° Henry Havers. 

After his ejectment, Havers held a farm in the parish, called 
New House, ' the residence of which was secluded from public 
view,' and there he regularly conducted public worfhip. Bifhop 
Kennett says: 'I knew him to be a very moderate and quiet 
man, who kept possession of his own house and lands in that 
parish (Stambourne), and had an out-house fitted for a meeting, 
which was the better filled because the parish church was too 
much neglected.' His labours were not in vain. He soon 
gathered a congregation around him, of which frequent notices 
appear in the archidiaconal and other documents of the period. 
July 17, 1665, we find several persons cited before the arch- 
deacon, at Braintree; among them Daniel Smith and his wife; 
John Choate and his wife; Rebecca Blunt, widow; Daniel 
Poulter and Elizabeth his wife; Widow French; and Francis 
and John French, for c their nonconformity.' Choate and his 
wife are specially charged with having 'conventicles at his 
house, preached to by Mr. Havers.' In 1668 Havers was asso- 
ciated with Scanderet, Barnard, Coleman, Ball, and Billio, in a 
controversy with the Quaker, George Whitehead. In 1669 
he is reported to Sheldon as having c a conventicle at Stam- 
bourne.' In 1670 there are three entries in the Visitation 
Book of the archdeaconry relating to him and his little flock. 
On the 22nd of February, in that year, the following persons 
were presented in the court, which was held at Braintree, 'for 
not coming to church:' Henry Havers, John Chepe, P. 
Deekes, William Bryant ; Daniel Poulter and his wife, and 
Francis French, all three of whom had been cited in 1665 ; 
and Roger Allett, John Stebbing, Thomas Wybrow, and 
James Smith. Allett and Wybrow seem to have appeared; 
the others avoided the citatiom Judgment was deferred. On 
the 1 8 th of May several were cited as excommunicated persons: 
Widow Baron, William Bryant and his wife, Daniel Poulter 
and his wife, and Robert Smith. Seven more were presented 
on the same occasion, for ' not coming to church, or receiving 
the sacrament for three years.' And, July 20, some of the 
excommunicated ones, to whom there were by that time added 
John French and his wife, were again before the Court. Two 



Matthew Ellijlon. 471 

years after this the Indulgence was publifhed. Havers now 
took out a license for his own house, at Stambourne, to be a 
' Presbyterian meeting place,' and another for himself to be a 
'Presbyterian teacher.' The license bears date May 2, 1672. 

In the meanwhile Havers had extended his labours beyond 
Stambourne, and, among other places, to Ipswich, where he 
laboured in conj unction with Owen Stockton. On the 16th 
of April, some weeks before he took out these licenses for 
Stambourne, he had, therefore, protected himself by taking 
out a license for Ipswich : it was to be a c Presbyterian teacher 
in Grey Friars.' Of his other labours, nearer home, I have 
spoken elsewhere. He lived to a good old age, and was still 
living in 1705. Calamy might well say, 'he was courageous 
in his work.' He adds that, 'he was wonderfully preserved in 
the most troublous times. He was a good philologist and a 
subftantial divine. One of great holiness, and a most amiable, 
peaceable temper, on whom malice itself could not faften a 
blot.' 

Havers organized a church at Stambourne. In 17 16 the 
congregation is returned as containing seventeen persons who 
had votes for Essex, three who had votes for Suffolk, and six 
who are described as 'gentlemen.' The number of hearers is 
not given. The paftor, at that date, was Henry Havers, one 
of the family of the ejected rector. He was succeeded by his 
nephew, of the same name, during whose miniftry the present 
chapel was erected. The next paftor was Anthony Mayhew, 
who was succeeded by Henry Hallam; Hallam by King; King 
by Benjamin Beddome; and Beddome by the present minifter, 
the Rev. James Spurgeon.* 

Stamford Rivers. — Matthew Ellijlon. The rectory had 
been sequeftered from John Meredith, who succeeded to the 
living June 30, 1641, on the promotion of Manwaring to the 
see of St. David. Meredith was of All Souls' College, and at 
this date held also a fellowfhip in Eton College. April 23, 

* Cal. Ace. 303 ; Lands. MSS. 459; Returns of 1669, ante p. 345; Indul- 
Kennett's Regifter and Chronicle; Con- gence, ante p. 340; see also pp. 369, 
troversy with Whitehead, ante p. 414; 394; Returns of 1716, ante p. 353. 



472 Stamford Rivers. 

1643, an ordinance passed the House of Commons for the 
sequeftration of the living to Ellifton, which was sent up to 
the Lords five days afterwards. The Upper House then 
resolved to re-inveftigate the case, and issued an order to 
Meredith to appear before them. On the 6th of May there is 
an entry on the Journals to the effect, that Meredith failing to 
appear, and c proof being given of the service of the order, of 
the 28th of April, at his lodging, the House taking this as a 
contempt, proceeded with the case in his absence.' Evidence 
was then heard, that ' he hath not been at his charge, at Stam- 
ford Rivers, this nine months, and that he is at Oxford with the 
King's army.' The House now adjudged, that Meredith 
should be sequeftered, and c that Matthew Ellifton, M.A., 
should be appointed to officiate the cure during their pleasure.' 
On the 17th of May, an order was made that Meredith c should 
receive the proceeds of the living up to the date of the seques- 
tration.' The settlement of Ellifton in the vacancy thus 
created, for some reason, did not take place, however, until 
after the 3rd of September, 1646. In the meanwhile, Decem- 
ber, 1645, Meredith had also been ejected from his fellowfhip 
of Eton College, but had been presented by the Earl of New- 
burgh to the mafterfhip of Wiggftan's Hospital, in Leicefter- 
shire. The House of Commons further deprived him of that 
preferment on the nth of April, 1644. 

Ellifton appears to have been a native of Coggefhall. I find 
no traces of him previoufly to his settlement at Stamford. 
The Rev. Dr. Tattam, the present rector, obliges me with 
copies of entries in the parish regifter of the 'baptism of John 
Ellifton, son of Matthew Elliston, minister, September 14;' 
of the ' burial of John, on the nth of July, 1651 ;' and also of 
the 'baptism of his son Matthew, 27th of August, 1651.' 
Elliston was chosen on the 'Classis,' and is reported of in 1650 
as, 'an able preacher, and of a godly conversation.' He was 
ejected under the act of 1660, as Meredith was restored to the 
rectory, as well as to his fellowfhip at Eton, and his masterfhip 
at Wiggstan's. Meredith refigned Stamford before 30th April, 
1 66 1, and afterwards became warden of All Souls' College, Ox- 



Robert Abbot. 473 

ford, on the promotion of Gilbert Sheldon to the see of London, 
and subsequently provost of Eton. He died in August, 1665. 

After his ejectment Elliston removed to Little Coggeshall, 
where we find him licensed, on the 13th of May, 1672, to be 
a ' Presbyterian teacher in his house at the Grange,' and on 
the same day we find his c house also licensed to be a Presby- 
terian meeting place.' Calamy speaks of him as c a person of 
great worth and ability.' There are traces of his preaching 
at Coggefhall as late as 1675. It is not improbable that the 
following entry in the parish register, at Markfhall, refers to 
him : c 1693, May 3. Buried, Matthew Ellistone.' * 

Stansted Mountfitchet. — Robert Abbot. He appears 
to have been of Jesus College, Cambridge, where he matricu- 
lated March 2, 1629. He succeeded to the vicarage of 
Stansted Mountfitchet on the refignation of Richard Ward, 
under an order of the House of Lords, and on the presentation 
of Timothy Middleton, of Stansted Hall, the then patron of the 
living, and an elder of the parish, 23rd July, 1647. Ward 
was the author of, 1. 'The Anatomy of Warre, with the 
woful fruits and effects thereof, laid out to the life, by R. W., 
minister of the word.' London, 4to., 1642; in which volume 
he speaks of the following other works, which he had publifhed 
previously : 2. c The Pious Man's Practise in Parliament 
time.' 3. c The Principal Duty of Parliament men.' 4. 
c Vindication of the Parliament and their proceeding/ It is 
poffible that he was the immediate successor of Boswell, at 
Rivenhall. If so, he would seem to have been the author 
also of, 5. c The Chiefest Divine Virtues Epitomized: or, 
concerning Faith, Hope, and Charity.' London, 1655, 8vo. 

Abbot signed the c Essex Teftimony,' in 1648, as minifter 
of Stanfted. In 1650, he is returned as a 'preaching minifter/ 
Abbot's successor, Thomas Wallis, is entered in the regifter 
of the diocese as having been admitted c 22nd of January, 
1663, per inconform. ult. vie' 

* Cal. Ace. 312; Cont 312; W. il. Fast. ii. 29. Dale, Ann. of Coggefhall, 
88; Jour. H. of C. iii. 56, 62,456; pp. 81, 196. 
Jour. H. of L.vi. 21 — 33,48,86; Wood, 



474 Lewis Calendrine. 

Abbot left traces of his ministry at Stanfted. The church 
there, however, seems to have originated with Holcroft, Oddy, 
and Cradock. The chapel was erected about 1698. The 
first minifter was Philip Burgesss. In 17 16, the congregation 
is returned as containing three hundred and fifty hearers, of 
whom thirty-five are described as having votes for the county, 
and eleven as c gentlemen.' Burgess was succeeded by . 
Jackson ; Jackson by John Sewell ; Sewell by Thomas Impey ; 
Impey by James Johnston; Johnston by James Cavalier; 
Cavalier by Benjamin GafFee ; GafFee by Josiah Redford ; 
Redford by R. E. May ; May by the Rev. Thomas Pinch- 
back ; Pinchback by the Rev. John Hall ; Hall by the Rev. 
Horrocks Cocks ; and Cocks by the present minifter, the Rev. 
D. Davies. * 

Stapleford Abbots. — Lewis Calendrine. He was the son 
of a former minifter of the Dutch church, and, probably, a 
relative of Caesar Calendrine, who was rector of Stapleford 
from 1620 to 1640. Of this Caesar, Wood says: 'he was by 
birth a German ; by profession a theologist ; and, being a 
learned man, was beloved of the famous Dr. Ufher, who took 
him into Ireland, and there, as 'tis said, preferred him.' Lewis 
appears to have succeeded Edward Benthall, who was still 
here in 1648, when he signed the 'Essex Teftimony.' The 
return in 1650 is, 'Lewis Calendrine, an able, godly preaching 
minifter.' Soon after his ejection Calendrine went to Holland, 
but shortly returned to Essex. In September, 1672, there is 
entry of a license granted to the house of Edward Praden, in 
this parish, to be a ' Presbyterian meeting place.' I find, how- 
ever, no entry of a license to Calendrine. ' He had nothing to 
trust to when he was ejected, but threw himself upon Provi- 
dence, with his ten children.' Calamy adds, 'he met with 
many difficulties, and yet was contented and cheerful under all.' 
In his old age he lived in a alms-house at Mile-end, London, 

* Baker's MSS. Notes to Calamy j was admitted 1st July, 1649. Newc. 

Jour. H. of L. ix. 348; Cal. Ace. 307; ii. 551; Returns of 17165 Stanftead 

Cont. 475 ; Lands. MSS. 459 ; Middle- Church Book, 
ton, Mor. H. E. ii. 579, 599. Ward 



Samuel Bantoft. 475 

where he officiated as chaplain. It appears that he was still 
living in 1692.^ 

Stebbing. — Samuel Bantoft. He was for many years fellow 
of Jesus College, Cambridge, and some time president. He 
took his degree of B.A. in 1641; that of M.A. in 1645; and 
afterwards that of B.D. He was one of the preachers sent 
out by the University about 1659. From this it would appear 
that it was after that date that he came to Stebbing. The 
living had been sequeitered from Samuel Johnson, S.T.P., who 
was also rector of Fobbing. In the minutes of the Committee 
for Plundered Minifters, under date May 3, 1645, we find 
that it was c ordered that the rectory of the parish church of 
Stebbing, in the county of Essex,' should c be forthwith seques- 
tered' from him 'for his malignancy against the Parliament;' 
and, under the same date, c that Richard Searle, M. A., be recom- 
mended to the Assembly of Divines for the vacancy at Fobbing.' 

In 1647, M. Aynsworth is given as the incumbent of 
Stebbing. He signed the ' Essex Teftimony,' in 1648, as 
'minifter of the word there,' and is returned, in 1650, as 
'Samuel Alsworth (sic), a godly preacher.' Bantoft probably 
succeeded Ainsworth. 

After his ejection Bantoft removed to Braintree, where he 
preached for some time. September 5, 1672, he was licensed, 
as 'of Braintree,' to be a 'Presbyterian teacher;' and, on the 
same day, there is entry of a license granted for the ' house of 
Mr. Henry Infers to be a Presbyterian meeting place.' He 
was ultimately forced to leave Braintree, when he went to 
London, and was there 'promoted to an excommunication.' 
He removed from London to Ipswich, where he died August 
21, 1692, at the age of seventy-three. 'While he was just a 
dying, he was heard to say that he blessed God that kept him 
faithful, that he never conformed.' f 

* Cal. Ace. 311; Cont. 485; Lands. f Cal. Ace. 310; Cone. 485 ; Add. 

MSS. 459 j License Book S. P O. ante MSS. 156695 Fobbing, ante p. 230 j 

p. 340 ; Dr. D. Williams' l Gospel Aynsworth, p. 289 ; Lands. MSS. 

Truth j ' Wood, Fast. i. 2 1 6. Benthall, 459 ; License Book, p. 340. 
ante p. 278, 423. 



476 

Bantoft's labours at Braintree proved to be the origin of the 
church at Booking. We have no authentic record of the 
hiftory of that church, however, until 1700, when a large 
congregation, which assembled in a barn near the White Hart, 
Braintree, invited Thomas Shepherd to become their paftor. 
Thomas was the son of William Shepherd, who was admitted 
rector of Tillbrook, in Bedfordfhire, in 1654; and who, 
although he conformed at the restoration, afterwards resigned 
his living. The Rev. N. B. Young, the present rector of 
that parish, obliges me with a copy of the following memo- 
randum, which is preserved among the parochial documents : 
c In the parish church of Tillbrook, on Sunday (being the 20th 
day of February, 1660), William Shepheard (sic), clerk and 
rector of the said church, did publicly read the whole Book of 
Articles. N.B. — The said Mr. Shepheard, that unusually 
devoted labourer in the vineyard, notwithstanding his sub- 
scription, promises, and oath, at his ordination of priest and 
deacon, unhappily left the Eftablifhed Church, and became a 
divinity teacher at Oundle, in the year 1690/ Thomas 
Shepherd had also been a beneficed clergyman, at St. Neot's, 
in the county of Huntingdon, where, I am informed by the 
Rev. G. B. Thomas, from the parish records, that he was infti- 
tuted to the vicarage in the same year that his father resigned 
the living at Tillbrook, and that he left in 1692. It is said 
that he was afterwards beneficed again in Buckinghamfhire. 
While in Bucks he entered into a c serious correspondence 
with some of his brethren on the subject of subscription, a 
part of which was afterwards publifhed.' In 1697 he preached 
as a probationary to a Presbyterian congregation in London, 
but did not accept their invitation to settle with them. 

Under Mr. Shepherd's miniftry the congregation at 
Booking enjoyed great prosperity. In 1707 a spacious place 
of worfhip was erected for their accommodation, which soon 
became crowded. In 17 16 the congregation is returned as 
consifting of eight hundred persons, of whom one hundred 
and ten had votes for the county, and nine had votes for 
Colchefter and Maldon, and thirty-four of whom are described 



Booking. 477 

as 'gentlemen.' Shepherd died January 29, 1738-9, at the 
age of seventy-three, and was buried at Booking. He pub- 
lifhed: 1. 'Several Sermons on Angels, with a Sermon on the 
Power of Devils in Diftempers.' 17 12, 8vo. 2. 'Three Ser- 
mons on Separation, showing the Church's Fear of False 
Worfhip ; her care to tread in the footfteps of the flock ; what 
Schism is and where the guilt of it lies ; in Answer to Mr. 
Bennett's Discourse of Schism, with a Poftscript to Mr. 
Bennett.' 17 12, 8vo. These discourses are inscribed 'to the 
Dissenting churches in Essex, with their bifhops and deacons.' 
Thomas Bennett was re&or of St. James', Colchefler, from 
1700 to 1 7 16, when he resigned, and became vicar of St. 
Giles', Cripplegate. He was the editor of 'An Abridgement 
of the London Cases,' which was a series of treatises against 
the Dissenters, publifhed by some of the London clergy in 
1684. 3. 'A Volume of Sermons,' in 1726. 8vo. This was 
a collection of all the single sermons which he had publifhed 
previously, together with some additional discourses. 4. 
There is also ascribed to his editorfhip, 'Mason's Remains,' 
being pofthumous sermons of the Rev. W. Mason, rector of 
Water Stratford, Bucks. 

Shepherd was succeeded by Joseph Pitt, who was ordained 
August 24, 1738. He resigned and preached his farewell 
sermon March 21, 1738, which was afterwards publifhed. 
On the removal of Mr. Pitt the church invited the well- 
known George Whitfield, who was then itinerating the 
neighbourhood, to become their paftor. Whitfield declined, 
but recommended Thomas Davidson, a native of Cromarty, 
in the north of Scotland. Mr. Davidson was ordained July 
5, 1744. John Thorowgood became Davidson's assistant in 
1776. Davidson publifhed: 1. 'The Triumphant Exit of a 
Faithful Servant of Christ ; a sermon on the death of John 
Harrison, pastor of Wethersfield, June 10, 1770.' 2. 'A 
Sermon at the admiflion of Dr. John Trotter to the pastoral 
charge of the Scotch congregation at Swallow Street Chapel, 
London.' 3. ' The Early Knowledge and Remembrance of 
God recommended ;' a sermon to young persons. 4. ' The 



47 8 Angel \ of St ebbing. 

Neceffity of a Divine Teaching to make us number our days ;' 
a sermon preached at Colchester on the death of Mr. Henry 
Stapleton, November 23, 1783; together with 'The BlefTed- 
ness of the Dead who die in the Lord ;' a sermon preached 
at Braintree, on the death of the Rev. Samuel Tabor, January 
24, 1784. Davidson died April 6, 1788, and was succeeded 
by John Thorowgood, who continued pastor of the church 
until his death. Thorowgood's succefTor was the present 
pastor, the Rev. Thomas Craig, who was ordained October 
12, 1802. 

Soon after the death of Davidson a secession took place 
from the church at Bocking, which was the origin of the 
church at Braintree. The first pastor was David Pritchard, 
who was chosen in 1789, and continued pastor till his death 
February 28, 18 12. Pritchard was succeeded by the present 
pastor, the Rev. John Carter. 

Stebbing. — . Angel. I have not been able to recover his 
chriftian name. He was probably the associate of Bantoft. 

The Morison and Blackburn MSS. state that a Mr. Young 
was also ejected here_, but this is evidently a miftake. There 
was a Young who was silenced at Bifhop's Stortford, where 
he had been associated with Jonathan Payne ; and as Payne 
was active in this neighbourhood after his ejection, and was 
probably the founder of the church at Dunmow, it is not 
unlikely that Young may have laboured here after he was 
silenced at Stortford. It is said that the church now 
assembling at Dunmow met originally in this village, whence 
it c removed to the more public and central situation it now 
occupies.' The Revs. Messrs. Shepherd, of Braintree, and 
Notcutt, of Thaxted, afterwards preached a lecture here. 
This was the case in 17 16. There was a minifter of the 
name of Laing here before 17 19. In 1720, a small barn, 
situated on the spot where a part of the present meeting-house 
now stands, was fitted up with a pulpit, forms, and gallery. 
In 1724, Thomas Doughty, then minifter at Finchingfield, 
was accuftomed to preach at Stebbing, one Lord's day out of 
every three. After his removal the pulpit was succeffively 



Thomas Clark. 4.7 9 

supplied on the same plan by the Revs. Messrs. Stennet and 
Davis, of Terling. During their miniftry the village was 
visited by the itinerant preachers who laboured under the 
auspices of the Rev. J. Berridge, of Eversden, Cambs. In 
1767, a small church was formed by Richard Hume, formerly 
of Braintree. This church was dissolved in 1776. The 
Revs. Messrs. Fell, of Thaxted, and Wickens, of Dunmow, 
then took up the cause, and conducted evening services here 
once in every three Lord's days, and also on alternate Tuesdays. 
In 1790, the Rev. Ezekiel Offwood, formerly of Abbots 
Roothing, was minifler. After preaching for a few months 
he relinquifhed the pulpit. In 1792, the Rev. Samuel Torr 
became paftor. In 1793, the old barn was taken down, and a 
new place of worfhip was erected, mainly under the auspices of 
one William Barber, assisted by the generous contributions of 
the neighbourhood and the county. Mr. Torr was succeeded, 
in 18 10, by the Rev. Joseph Morison. Morison was succeeded 
by the Rev. Charles Duff, the present minifler. * 

Stisted. — Thomas Clark. In the Journal of the House of 
Lords there is an entry, under date April 19, 1642, of an order, 
that c Mr. John Clark, the now curate of the parish of Stisted, the 
incumbent being lately dead, is hereby specially recommended to 
the Archbifhop of Canterbury to be minister and parson of the 
said church, being certified to be a man of good life and of sound 
doctrine.' Under date of the -23rd of the same month, there is 
another as follows : c Upon the humble suit of Mr. John Clark, 
the now curate of Stisted, made this day, ordered that the said 
Mr. John Clark is hereby specially recommended to the Arch- 
bifhop of Canterbury to be minister according to a former order, 
dated the 19th of April, the said Mr. Clark being, as hath been 
affirmed by the parifhioners there, and divers minifters, a man 
of good life and sound doctrine.' And on the 3rd of May, 
there is a third entry of an ' order, that Mr. John Clark is 
recommended to be presented unto the Archbifhop of Canter- 
bury, to be presented to be minister of Stisted/ Laud gives 

* Cal. Ace. 3 10 j Dunmow, p. 385. 



480 Stifled, 

the following account of the matter in the c History of his 
Troubles and Tryal,' which he wrote during his imprisonment 
in the Tower : c The rectory of Stisted was fallen void, and in 
my gift j the Earl of Warwick was an earnest suitor to me for 
it, for one Mr. Clark. I delayed, having six months' time by 
law to dispose of my benefices. During the delay Mr. Richard 
Howlett, a bachelor of divinity, and a man of very good worth, 
a dean in Ireland, was, by the rebels there, turned out of all 
he had, and forced, for safety of his life, to come with his wife 
and children into England. His wife was my near kinswoman. 
At their coming over I was forced to relieve them, else they 
might have begged. Hereupon I resolved in myself to give 
Stisted to Mr. Howlett, and to gratifie Mr. Clark with some- 
thing after ; nothing doubting but that the Parliament would 
readily give way in such a neceflity, for so worthy a man as 
Mr. Howlett was known to be. While these things were in 
my thought, two other great benefices fell into my disposal, 
Bocking and Lachingdon, both in Essex. Presently the pa- 
rishioners petition me, they of Bocking, for Dr. Gawden, a 
chaplain of the Earl of Warwick's ; they of Lachingdon, that 
they might choose their own minister. I gave a fair answer to 
both, but reserved myself. Then I was pressed v/ith letters 
from the Earl of Warwick, for Dr. Gawden. My answer was, 
I could not gratifie Dr. Gawden with Bocking, and Mr. Clark 
with Stifled. Then Dr. Gawden brings me a very earnest 
letter, but very honourable, from the Earl of Hertford. When 
I saw myself thus preiTed, I resolved to name fit men to all 
these benefices presently, and see how the Parliament would be 
pleased to deal with me. Before I did this I thought fit to make 
a fair offer to the Earl of Warwick, who, by Dr. Gawden's 
entreaty, came to me to the Tower. I freely told his Lordfhip, 
and my honourable friend the Lord Marquis of Hertford, I could 
give Bocking to Dr. Gawden ; Lachingdon to Mr. Howlett, in 
regard of his alliance to me, and his present necessity; and 
Stisted to Mr. Newstead, to whom I was pre-engaged, by 
promise to my ancient worthy friend, Sir Thomas Rowe, whom 
Mr. Newstead had served in his embassages seven years -, and 



Sti/ied. 48 1 

for Mr. Clark, he should have the next benefice which fell in 
my gift, for his lordfhip's sake. His lordfhip seemed to be 
very much taken with this offer of mine, and promised me, and 
gave his hand upon it, that he would do me all the kindness he 
could that these nominations might pass with the Lords, May 
31, 1642. Upon this I rested, and according to my promise 
petitioned the Lords as is expressed. Upon the reading of this 
petition the Lords ordered me presently to collate Bocking upon 
Dr. Gawden, which I did, the order being brought unto me the 
next day, April 1, 1642. But for the other two the Lords took 
time to consider. The Earl of Warwick was then present in 
the House, and, as I am informed, said little or nothing. 
This made me fear the worst, and therefore I ordered Mr. 
Howlett to get a full certificate from the Lord Primate of 
Armagh, both for life and learning, and attend with it at the 
Parliament, to make the best friends for himself. The bufiness 
stuck still. At last he met with the Lord Kimbolton, who 
presently made all weather-fair for him, and, upon his lord- 
ship's motion to the House, an order passed for Mr. Howlett 
to have Lachingdon, April 13, 1642. The motive this : Mr. 
Howlett was fellow of Sidney College, in Cambridge, and tutor 
at that time to two sons of Lord Montague, the Lord Kimbol- 
ton's uncle ; at which time also the Lord Kimbolton himself 
was a student in the same college, and knew the person and 
worth of Mr. Howlett. This his lordship honourably now 
remembered, else it might have gone hard with Mr. Howlett's 
necessities. So, upon the order thus obtained, I collated 
Lachingdon upon him. After this the Earl of Warwick went 
lord admiral to sea, by appointment of the Parliament, and 
forthwith I was served with another order, to give Stiffed to 
Mr. Clark. Hereupon I petitioned again, and set forth my 
resolutions and ingagements to Sir Thomas Rowe, and Dr. 
Gawden having told me that the Earl of Warwick had left 
that bufiness with me, in trust with the Lord Roberts, I made 
bold to write to his lordfhip and entreat his lawful favour. 
The Lord Roberts denied that any such order or care of that 
business was left with him, nor would he meddle in it; but 

L L 



482 Stifled. 

referred me to the Lord Kimbolton, who still followed the 
bufiness close for Mr. Clark. By all which it appeared to me 
that the Earl of Warwick had forgotten his promise to me, to 
say no more. Soon after I received another order to give 
Stifled to Mr. Clark. To this I answered again by petition, 
April 25, 1642, but with like success, for another order came 
forth peremptorily to command me to give Stifled to Mr. Clark, 
May 3, 1642. But it so fell out that this order was not 
brought to me till ten days after the date. I sent my council 
to attend the Lords, that I might not fall into contempt. The 
business was not then called on, and by the sixteenth of the 
same month Stifled fell in by lapse to His Majefly, so I lost 
the giving of the benefice, and somebody else their ends 
upon me.' 

The King now presented Richard Middleton. This was 
poffibly the same person who had been his chaplain when 
Prince of Wales, and who published, 1. 'Card and Compass 
of Life.' Lond., 1613, 8vo. ; 2. ' The Heavenly Progress.' 
Lond., 1617, i2mo.j and 3. c The Key of David,' Lond., 
1 6 19, i2mo. He soon became involved in the troubles of 
the times, as, on the 18th of April, 1643, the Commons 
passed an c ordinance for sequeflering the rents and profits 
of the reclory of Styfled, whereof Richard Middleton is vicar, 
for the benefit of Edward Sparrowhawke, M.A.' This ordi- 
nance was sent up to the Lords on the 20th, and on the 24th 
the Lords returned for answer, c that it should be taken into 
consideration.' They did not however confirm it, but issued 
an order for the presentation of Chriflopher Newflead, whom 
Laud was anxious to present before. On the 16th of June, 
in that year, Newflead (sic, in the Journals) had presented a 
petition, complaining that, c whereas the House made an order 
for his quiet officiating and enjoying the possession of his 
living, yet, notwithstanding, the said order is disobeyed, and 
he not suffered to come into the church, and that the women 
threw stones at him, and reviled him and his friends.' And 
it was that day ordered, that c Thomas French, and the con- 
stable, and the sexton, shall be sent for as delinquents, to 



Stifled. 483 

answer for the said offences.' The result was, that for the 
time Newftead succeeded in obtaining possession of the 
rectory. In the March following, however, depositions were 
taken against him at Halfted, when two witnesses gave evi- 
dence on oath, ' to his having been a great promoter of the 
late innovations, by bowing to the altar towards the east, 
reading the service and churching women there, prosecuting 
tender consciences, affirming it treason not to obey the same ;' 
four, to his having preached ' that the sin of ignorance is but 
a small sin, and that Papifts are saved as well as Puritans, but 
that a Papist must go a little farther about, and that (that) sin 
which makes some people infamous, made Magdalene famous ;' 
two, to his having ' buried corses with crosses on the breast,' 
and, ' there being in his church at Abington the pictures of 
God (the) Father and of Purgatory, he caused to be rased 
out some texts on (the) walls shewing their unlawfulness, and 
put up others to juftify them, e. g., 1 Pet. iii. 19, and ob- 
served that Lent (was) kept for more than politick ends, and 
when he was told of the Act of Parliament to the contrary 
effect, he said, what cared he for Parliament;' three, to his 
' incompetence, and that he does not preach to prepare people 
for the sacrament;' three, that 'his curate, catechizing, shewing 
that Chrift's death was sufficient for all, but not sufficient to all, 
he silenced him, and next Lord's day he preached that Christ 
died for all, proving it from the catechism, Christ died for me 
and all mankind;' two, to his having 'declared malignity 
against the Parliament, and especially Lord Say, that he was no 
good subject;' three, to his 'being conversant with malignants 
and ill-affected persons, and choosing those of most base and 
lewd life for his churchwardens ;' two, that 'when Mr. Rood, 
his predeceffor at Abington, was unjuftly imprisoned by the 
High Commiffion, Newsted (sic), in the absence of Mr. Rood, 
threw their goods and children out of the house, exposing them 
to the cold, barefoote ;' one, that ' on taking possession of 
Stisted, last summer, he said he must goe to his master, the 
King;' one, that ' he swore before the House of Lords against 
some of his neighbours, that they broke the peace on his taking 

l l 2 



484 Stlfred. 

possession ;' and six, ' that this oath was false, for the peace 
was kept, the constable to that purpose charging several persons ' 
(there appears to be an erasure here in the original MS.); 
three, that ' he behaved so ill at Abington, that he was forced 
to resign to escape articles, and that he bound some of his 
parifhioners not to sue him ;' two, that ' he preached that God 
had saving mercies for David in hell ;' and three gave evidence 
to his ' not taking the covenant,' and c its not being taken in 
his parish.' The living was now sequestered from Newstead, 
but the fifth of the proceeds were awarded to his wife. 

The name of Thomas Clark does not appear on the ' Classis,' 
nor do I find any evidence of his being here until 1649, when 
he subscribed the 'Essex Watchword.' In 1650 the return is, 
'Thomas Clark, by sequeftration from Mr. Newftead, an able, 
godly divine.' Calamy says of him, that he was c a very 
laborious, useful preacher.' The admission of Daniel Nicholls, 
S.T.B., his successor, 8th March, 1662-3, 1S entere d m 
Juxon's regifter as 'jam legitime vacante.' Palmer has the 
following, in addition to Calamy : 'He had ten children when 
he left this valuable living for the sake of a good conscience. 
A daughter of his was mother to the late Mr. Woodward, an 
eminent brewer in Bedford— a gentleman in good repute, and 
of considerable influence in that town. Two of his daughters 
were married to eminent dissenting minifters, the one to Mr. 
James Belfham, some years minifter of Newport Pagnel, who 
afterwards preached only occasionally, residing at Bedford ; the 
other to Mr. Samuel Saunderson, who died paftor of the con- 
gregation in that town, and afterwards to the late Mr. Prichard, 
of London. Mr. Belfham left a son in the miniftry, who was 
later in the academy at Daventry, and afterwards removed to 
Hackney.' 

Newftead survived the reftoration, when he became pre- 
bendary of Cadington Minor, in the cathedral of St. Paul's. 
Newcourt identifies him with the Chriftopher Newftead of 
whom Wood says that, he 'was the son of Thomas Newftead, 
of Somercoates, in Lincolnshire;' that he 'became a com- 
moner of St. Alban's Hall in 1615;' that he wrote 'An 



Alar tin Sympson^ . Green. 485 

Apology for Women, or the Women's Defence,' Lond. 1620, 
8vo. And that c he afterwards had a benefice conferred upon 
him, and though he never took any degree in arts in this 
University (Oxford), yet he took that of B.D. in 1631.'* 

Stock. — Martin Sympson. The rectory had been sequeftered 
from William Pindar, who was also rector of Laingdon Hills. 
I have not been able to discover either the date or the reasons 
of this sequeftration, but as Pindar's personal property was also 
sequeftered, political delinquency may be safely inferred to have 
been its chief occasion. Henry Crewe was recommended to 
the Assembly of Divines for the sequeftration of Laingdon ; 
but in 1650 the return is, 'It is in the hands of sequestrators, 
having no settled minister. Mr. Pindar, the sequeftered 
minifter, is returned.' At the reftoration Pindar resigned the 
rectory, and was succeeded by William Rogers. 

The Rev. E. J. Edison kindly informs me that there is a 
memorandum in the parish regifter, at Stock, that c one Holmes 
and one Duke and Martin Simpson (sic) were put in by Parlia- 
ment.' The return for that parish in 1650 is, 'Mr. Duke, by 
sequeftration, a very weake and insufficient preacher.' Sympson 
seems to have been Duke's successor. He was ejected by the 
act of 1660, as Pindar recovered this living also. Pindar was 
the successor of John Reeve, at Springfield Boswell. 

In the Visitation Book of the archdeaconry for 1690, under 
date July 24, there is entry of a Mr c Crowley, of Laingdon, 
having been absolved from excommunication, which he had 
incurred by frequenting c seditious conventicles, in consideration 
of his previous good conduct.' f 

Great Tay. — . Green. He must have succeeded on the 
death of Timothy Rogers. I have not been able to ascertain 

* Cal. Ace. 3045 Cont. 468; Palmer, MSS. 459; Newc. i. 132; Wood, Ath. 

N. M. ii. 219; Jour. H. of L. vi. 6, 16, Ox. i. 4575 Howlett, ante p. 2055 Spar- 

30 } Jour. H. of C. iii. 49, 53 ; Jour. hawke, ante p. 432. 

H. of L. vi. 15, 16, 97 } ' Troubles and f Cal. Ace. 313 ; Add. MSS. 15670, 

Tryals of Laud,' 194, 195; Wood, Sept. 4, 1646, p. 227 ; Harl. MSS. 6100, 

Fast. ii. 131 ; ColeMSS. xxviii. I7,seqq.; Lands. MSS. 459 ; Crewe, ante p. 260 ; 

Add. MSS. 15669, 223, 290 j Lands. Springfield, ante p. 465 ; Duke ? 246. 



486 Richard Rand^ "John Stalham. 

anything more of him than the fact of his ejectment, neither 
can I discover his Christian name.* 

Tay Marks. — Richard Rand. In the MSS. additions to 
one of the copies of the 'Classis,' in the British Museum, the 
name of Rand appears at Easthorpe. It is quite possible that 
this may refer to Richard, as he was not at Marks Tay until 
after 1650, the entry in the Parliamentary return for that year 
being, 'Mr. John Neville.' Rand was ejected under the Act 
of Uniformity. His successor was admitted 13th November, 
1662. Calamy says, c he was a holy, humble, learned man, and 
a very serious, awakening, profitable preacher. I have also 
been informed that it happened that very few knew Mr. Rand's 
Christian name, which was the means of his escaping divers 
sufferings. Once a Quaker of the same surname was taken in 
his stead. He showed them their mistake, and that he was not 
the person they meant. Then they would fain have learnt of 
him what this Mr. Rand's Christian name was, but being a 
man of honour, he would not assist them in their design of 
taking him, and therefore plainly told them that he could tell 
but would not. God hath many ways to shelter His servants 
from their enemies, and can make use of many instruments for 
that purpose.' If not immediately, certainly not long after his 
ejectment, Rand removed to the parish of Great Braxted. 
June 10, 1672, he took out a license to be a 'Congregational 
teacher in the house of Robert Maidston,' in that parish ; and 
on the same day a license was granted to the house, to be c a 
Congregational meeting place.' We afterwards find him at 
Little Baddow, where he died in 1692^ 

Terling. — John Stalham. Calamy says that c he was a 
native of Norfolk, and was bred up in the University of Ox- 
ford.' He seems to have first settled as c a preacher of the 
gospel' at Edinburgh, and was presented to the vicarage of 
Terling on the deprival of Thomas Weld, in 1632. He was 
of strict Congregational principles. In 1643 we find him 

* Cal. Ace. 308 j Rogers, ante p. MSS. 459 ; License Book, S. P. O., ante 
294,421. p. 340; Maidstone, infra; Easthorpe, 

f Cal. Ace. 308 ; Cont. 476 j Lands. p. 293 ; Little Baddow, p. 353. 



Terling. 487 

holding a public disputation with c Timothy Batt, physician,' 
and Thomas Lambe, c sope-boyler,' at Terling, on the subject 
of infant baptism, on which occasion he was assisted by his 
neighbours, John Newton, of Little Baddow, and Enoch Gray, 
of Wickham. In 1654 he was appointed one of the assistants 
to the county commissioners for the removal of scandalous and 
insufficient ministers. And, in 1655, he was one of those who 
assisted at the fast service at Coggefhall, which was disturbed 
by James Parnell.*" 

Stalham was ejected under the Act of Uniformity, and was 
succeeded, October 10, 1662, by Robert Ridgway, who also 
held the vicarage of Thorpe. After his ejectment he still 
continued at Terling, and as pastor of a Congregational 
church. He died there in 1680, or 1681. The congregation 
is returned in 17 16, erroneously as Baptist, as containing two 
hundred hearers, twenty of whom had votes for the county, 
and eight of whom are described as 'gentlemen.' The next 
pastor seems to have been Nathaniel Wyles, who died in 1748, 
at the age of eighty-eight. Wyles was succeeded by . Stennet. 
Stennet died in 1761, and was succeeded by . Davis; Davis by 
Daniel Bocking ; Bocking by Stephen Foster ; Foster by John 
Mills ; and Mills by William Kemp, who removed here from 
Colchester, and died here June 30, 1844. Kemp was suc- 
ceeded by the present pastor, the Rev. Francis Moore, f 

* Cal. Ace. 304 ; Cont. 468. ' The watchmen were set with halberds at 
Scriptures Vindicated,' by Richard Fame- every corner, but the preacher escaped 
worth; London, 1655, p. I. Weld, them all ... . having on a coloured 
infra; Newton, ante p. 154;. Gray, suit .... and so to London. ' Newes 
p. 299. 'About five years since, the from Canterbury.' Lond. 1649. 
Deane of Canterbury, hearing that one -f- Newc. ii. 578 ; Morison and Black- 
Mr. Gray, a godly and able minister, now burn MSS. ; Returns of 171 6, ante p. 
living in EfTex, had preached against the 353. There is an interesting letter 
prelates' popish proceedings .... Sab- addreffed by the church at Terling to 
bath morning rode out to find him, and that at Rowel, in Northamptonshire, and 
hunted .... from parish to parish ; signed by Stalham, in the name and with 
at last, towards night, he came to Sand- the consent of the church, in Maurice's 
wich, where he had almost caught the 'Memoir of Thomas Browning,' of whom 
game .... But the Gray was crept see infra. Unhappily the letter is not 
through .... whereupon the dean dated, 
caused the town gates to be shut, and 



488 John Stalham. 

Stalham published, I. c The Summe of a Conference at 
Terling, EiTex, Januarie n, 1643, .... by which the 
strength of truth and weaknesse of error is discovered ; and 
before which an epistle more largely is prefixed, to give some 
light thereunto, and to promote the cause pleaded for.' Lond., 
1644, 4to. From the introduction it appears that there had 
been a similar conference, held some little time previoufly, at 
Wickham, when Thomas Lowry was also present, and 
c sweetly put out a request to God that he would keep us in 
his presence, not to seeke ourselves, but to lay ourselves at 
the foot of truth ; and that the word may judge between us 
now, as well as it shall judge us at the last day.' 2. c Vin- 
dicia Redemptionis in the fanning and sifting of Samuel Oates, 
his exposition on Matt. xiii. 44 ; with a faithful search after 
our Lord's meaning in his two parables of the Treasure and 
the Pearl, endeavoured in severall sermons upon Matt. xiii. 
44, 45 : wherein the former part, universal redemption, is 
discovered to be a particular errour ; and in the latter part, 
Christ, the peculiar treasure and pearl of God's elect, is laid as 
the sole foundation, and the Chriftian's faith and joy in Him 
and self-denial for Him, is raised as a sweet and sure super- 
structure.' Lond., 1647, 4to. In the dedication of this 
treatise there is a passage which is not without biographical 
interest. c You are the people among whom my lot hath 
fallen these fourteen years and upwards, and I cannot but 
remember that inviting report which was given of you, that 
you were a fasting and a praying people, which I found true. 
I doe not forget what example of nonconformity to prelatical 
injunctions you held out to me, nor what forbearance you 
allowed me for a time in the use of the ceremonies which my 
reverend and godly predeceflbr had refused, and I, through 
inconsiderate timidity and temerity, had introduced, till God 
convinced me of my folly.' Poor Oates, to whom this treatise 
replied, was now in Colchefter gaol as a difturber of the public 
peace. There is also prefixed an address to the Christian 
reader, by John Maidstone. Speaking of Oates, and those who 
followed him, Maidstone thus expresses himself upon the 



yohn Stalham. 489 

subject of c toleration,' which was then already creating so wide 
a breach between the Congregationalifts and the Presbyterians : 
c For my part I shall call for neither hammer, sword, nor 
fire against them, but the Sacred Scripture, which is compared 
to all three. Let him cry murther, and call for a conitable to 
keep the peace at a dispute, who is impatient of contradiction 
and accounts his own principles ruined by another man dis- 
senting from him. Meek and innocent truth sufficiently 
contenteth him in whom it dwells, though it meets with 
opposition from him that knows it not. And I would expect 
to see his flesh come, like the flesh of a young childe that is 
once baptized in the Jordan thereof, when he that is once 
dipt in the Pharpar of corporall punifhment shall go away in 
his errour, a leper as white as snow. And much more should 
I rejoice to rescue one poor soul in gentlenesse and love out of 
the prison of a corrupt opinion, than keep all the hereticks 
under heaven in the ward where Pharoah's prisoners are 
bound, till their feet are hurt in the stocks, and the iron 
enter into their soul.' 3. c The Reviler Rebuked ; or a 
reinforcement of the charge against the Quakers so-called.' 
London, 1657. This was written in answer to Richard 
Farnworth. It is dedicated to c His Highness Oliver, Lord 
Protector of the Commonwealth, and the Right Honour- 
able the Council of State.' Stalham says to the Protector : 
c The liberty proclaimed to godly, gospel preachers, and your 
foftering of orthodox paftors and teachers, will much conduce, 
by the spirit of Chrift's mouth, to the consumption of the 
man of sin. Some, indeed, cry up nothing but club-law 
against the Quakers, and can give no other measure than their 
prelatical fathers to those that dissented from them. But, by 
your indulgence and forbearance of saints erring and otherwise 
minded, many have conscientiously made enquiries after those 
truths which lay hid, or were defaced, and have the more 
heartily embraced them, and do hold them after scripture 
conviction.' 4. c Marginal Antidotes to be affixed over against 
the Lives of R. H. and E. B., their pamphlet entitled the 
Rebukes of a Reviler.' Lond., 1657. 



490 James Parkin. 

Thaxted. — James Parkin. There is a four-leaved tracl: 
among the King's pamphlets in the British Museum, the 
following reprint of a part of which will not unfitly introduce 
what fadts I have been able to collect with reference to this 
devoted man. It is entitled C A Great Fight in the Church at 
Thaxted, in Essex, between the sequestrators and the minifter, 
and the Mayor being present ; the men and women in this fight 
fell all together by the eares, on the Lord's day : concerning 
which divers of the chiefe actors were brought before the 
House of Lords, in Parliament assembled, this present Friday, 
September 24, 1647; with the manner of the tryall, and the 
several charges brought in against them at the Lords' barre. 
London, printed for Henry Becke, in Aldersgate Street, Anno 
Domini 1647.' 'The Committee for Plundered Minifters 
sequeftered one Mr. Leader, vicar of Thaxted, and settled 
(sic) one Mr. Hall, a godly, learned minifter. Mr. Leader 
deceasing about a year after, the Lady Maynard, being 
patronesse of the said living, refused to present Mr. Hall, but 
presents one Mr. Croxon, a man for swearing, cursing, and 
drunkennesse, the whole country cannot parallell as was proved 
against him. The well affected parifhioners perceiving what a 
judgment they lay under, to sit under the miniftry of such a 
soul-starving paftor, began a new prosecution, and exhibited 
severall articles against the said Mr. Croxon before the Com- 
mittee for Plundered Minifters, and prosecuted the same untill 
the said committee, hearing the cause, sequeftered the said 
living from Mr. Croxon. * The Lady Maynard suggefted to 
the said committee that Mr. Croxon had made a refignation to 
the lady of the said living ; but because no refignation did 
appear to the committee, it was ordered that the said lady 
should have only leave and two months' time to nominate some 

* Neuman Leader, presented by Sir swer charges that were alleged against 

W. Maynard, bart., (Mor. ii. 432,) and him, May 2, 1646. Add. MSS. 15670, 

admitted 30th September, 1612, died in 153. Lady Maynard was the wife of 

1645. Edmund Croxton was admitted Lord Maynard j her husband was now 

3rd December, 1645. N. ii. 582. Croxton under impeachment for high treason, 

was summoned to appear before the Com- Mor. ii. 432. 
mittee for Plundered Ministers, to an- 



Thaxted. 49 1 

godly minifter to the committee for the said living. The 
well affected parifhioners petitioned the committee to vacate 
the said order, for these reasons : I. Because the lady had pre- 
sented two unworthy minifter s before, the prosecuting of which 
minifters had cost a few well affetted persons in the parish at 
least a hundred pounds. II. Because that order that gave the 
lady power, was gotten upon pretence of a refignation, whereas 
there could he none legall : First, because when articles are 
depending no man can refegn. Secondly, because if the refignation 
had been before articles the living must needs be relapst, because it 
was more than six months before the said lady went about to 
present the said Mr. Hall; but it is proved, by an order, that the 
said refignation was a little before the sequejlration, therefore, by 
the order of the committee, void, as we can make clearly to 
appear. * Yet, notwith {landing, the committee gave the 
lady liberty to commend some godly minifter : she com- 
mended Mr. (Samuel) Hall, who was referred to the Assembly 
of Divines, who found him unfit, and made return of it to the 
committee. Mr. Hall was sent a second time to the Assembly, 
who returned him still unfit, and they were more unsatisfied 
than before. Mr. Hall was sent a third time, and returned 
unfit, whereupon he was discharged from intermeddling with 
Thaxted any more by the said committee, they having power 
to place none but such as the Assembly approves of. Since 
which time he hath addressed himself to the right honourable 
the House of Lords, who did order the Assembly to examine 
him ; who have returned answer that they cannot approve of 
him. The Lords were pleased to order that the Assembly 
should bring in the reasons why they did not approve of him. 
The Assembly did produce their reasons, which gave the Lords 
such satisfaction that the cause was laid aside for the present, 
and the said Hall, in the absence of the speakers, got an order 
for inftitution and induction, which is now made void by the 
ordinance.' t 

* This petition was received June 25, "f" The order from the Lords to the 

1646, and was referred to the County Assembly was issued 18th May, 1647. 

Committee for the necessary documents On the 21st the Assembly reported. 

to be produced. Add. MSS. 15670, 247. The Lords then ordered 'a copy of the 



492 



Thaxted. 



The tract then recapitulates the story of a c report from the 
sequeftrators,' and proceeds to say, c Hall came to the church 
accompanied with the mayor, Nitingale, and divers others of 
the disaffected party. The sequeftrators demanded his authority; 
he refused to show any authority, and said they should not 
question it, and went and preached the forenoon. In the after- 
noone the sequestrators went and stood at the door of the deske 
to force him to show authority, or prevent him from preaching. 
Mr. Hall came in the afternoone to the church, accompanied 
with the above-said mayor. The sequeftrators demanded his 
authority ; he refused to show any. The sequeftrators told 
him they had no order, that he should not officiate, and if he 
could show a letter they would desist, which he refused to doe. 
Then one Chiftopher Tanner, churchwarden, and Edward 
Mountforth, told the sequeftrators that if (they) would not 
come downe, they should be pulled downe, and said that Mr. 
Hall should preach too, with other daring words. Then came 
the mayor out of his seat, and reproved the sequeftrators, and 
said he wondered the sequeftrators would make a difturbance, 
which animated divers disaffected men and women, who fell 
upon the sequeftrators, beat them, tore their hair from their 



report to be sent to Hall, and that he 
should be heard what he could say to 
clear himself from the things which are 
charged against him.' In the report the 
Assembly says : ' It have been our use in 
the examination of ministers to consider 
first, of their lives, .... and especially 
now .... when so many, who have 
been cast out for their scandalous and 
ungodly conversation, do endeavour to 
get into livings, .... we do further 
certify .... that this very man hath 
occasioned more trouble to us, and more 
hindered the public service, than any 
other minister that ever was referred to 
us.' They also say, 'We (be) credibly 
informed of sundry miscarriages in his 
preaching and otherwise, and that he 
hath been imprisoned by the Committee 



of the Eastern Association, for preaching 
a malignant sermon in Cambridge against 
the Parliament, within these two years 
last past.' And concludes, * And we do 
humbly pray that he may not be per- 
mitted further to interrupt the public 
work of this Assembly.' Jour. H. of L. 
ix. 192, 200, 201. The Assembly, how- 
ever, was troubled with Hall again. 1st 
June, the Lords ordered them to make 
good their charges on Friday next. On 
the 4th, Stephen Marfhall and others 
appears at the bar for that purpose. The 
Lords take time, and then, on the 4th of 
August, the order is given for Hall's in- 
stitution, ib. 229, 236, 369. In the 
meanwhile the parishioners had refused 
to pay the sequestrators. Add. MSS. 
15671, 65. 



Thaxted. 493 

heads, and their bands from their necks, and endangered the 
taking away their lives; the mayor being present and never 
reproved the same. Anne, the wife of Thomas Meade ; the wife 
of Laurence Porter, the wife of Nathaniel Weftley, the wife 
of Samuel Salmon ; these women fell violently upon the said 
sequestrators, beate them sore, tore their haire from their heads, 
their bands from their necks, and their hattes and cloakes off. 
Then came Henry Jebb, Thomas Meade, junior ; Edward 
Meade, junior; John Moore (who struck Captain Turner, one 
of the sequestrators) ; William Caton, Lewis Caton, Nathaniel 
Smith (alias Baby), John Guy, and John Baker, who animated 
and abetted the said women ; the sequestrators being forced to 
haste as fast as they could out of the church, being in danger 
of having their lives taken away from them by the persons 
above-mentioned. The mayor of the town being present, 
never charged any one of them to keep the peace, but animated 
them, and said, when others pressed towards the sequestrators, 
c Let them alone : and let the women decide the case. 9 

In the interval between the last report of the Assembly and 
the £ Insurrection of the London Apprentices,' both Houses had 
broken up. This was on the 26th of July. On the 27th 
they re-assembled, but without their speakers, and adjourned to 
the 30th. In the meanwhile the army had resolved to march 
on the metropolis; and, on the day of their re-assembling, both 
Houses found that their speakers had joined the army. It was 
in the midst of this confusion that Hall obtained his order. 
When the Houses were re-conflituted, one of the first measures 
was to pass an ordinance for c making null all orders, ordinances, 
and votes, in both or either Houses, from the 26th of July to 
the 6th of August.' Due notice of this was sent to the 
sequestrators at Thaxted, who immediately presented it to the 
mayor, who read it in the presence of Hall. Both of them set 
the order at defiance, and the sequestrators then appealed to the 
House of Lords. The House, on hearing this petition, on the 
27th of August, ordered that 'Hall, the mayor, and also Henry 
Gibb, who had made himself conspicuous in the resistance of 
their orders, should be attached and brought to their bar;' and, 



494 Thaxted. 

on the 8th of September, they appointed the following Thursday 
to hear the case. The case was heard accordingly, but judg- 
ment was deferred. On the 24th of September (the very day 
that this scene was taking place in the parish church at 
Thaxted), the Lords delivered judgment to the effect 'That 
the order, dated the 3rd August last, is void, and that Samuel 
Hall shall not officiate there (at Thaxted) any more;' and 
further, that ' Henry Gibb, town clerk, for his contemptuous 
words against the Parliament, shall stand committed to the 
Fleet during the pleasure of this House.' Three days after- 
wards the Lords ordered that Nitingale, the mayor of Thaxted, 
should c attend them' the following day, and that the rest of the 
persons complained against by the sequestrators, except Samuel 
Hall, should be released, 'they having by their petitions sub- 
mitted themselves to this House.' By the 1st of October 
Samuel Hall also had submitted, and was released. It is not 
impossible that this Hall is the person whom we shortly after- 
wards find at Bardfield Saling and Bardfield Magna. * 

James Parkin now succeeded to the sequeftration. His 
name appears among the subscribers to the 'Essex Testimony' 
in 1648; and in 1650 he is reported of as 'a quiet man, and 
one that taketh great pains.' My friend, the Rev. J. C. Rooke, 
has favoured me with copies of several entries in the parish 
registers relating to Parkin, extending over the whole period 
from 1648 to 1662. From these it appears that he had six 
children born to him during his incumbency: Hannah, June 5, 
1649; William, in September, 1650 ; Henry, in July, 1652; 
Thomas, June 18, 1654; Richard, November 15, 1655; and 
Samuel, January 21, 1656-7. Thomas was buried July 20, 
1654; and Richard, November 27, 1655. The admission of 
his successor is given as, 'per inconform. ult. vie/ f 

* Pari. Hist. in. 717, 723 ; Jour. H. labour in the field, in his master's work, 

of L. ix. 408, 410, 427,449,457,458. insomuch that his body was sore for 

The Bardfields, ante pp. 283, 284. several dayes after.' 'The Cruelty of 

f Cal. Ace. 307, 475. ' Priest Parkin, some Fighting Priests.' Lond. 1660, 

of Thackstead, did sorely beat Thomas 4to. p. 6. 
Sewen with a cane, when he was at 



Thaxted. 495 

After his ejectment Parkin still continued at Thaxted, and 
there are traces of his abundant labours both in the town and 
neighbourhood. In 1663, John Williamson was cited in the 
Archidiaconal Court, and charged c to forbear practising physicke, 
and to come to his parish church, and to bring a certificate next 
court.' And, at the same date, William Loveday, John Hardie, 
James Philpot, Richard and Elizabeth Wright, John Harvey 
and William Harvey, and Thomas Brown, were cited for not 
coming to church, and not bringing their children to be baptized. 
The court was held at Dunmow. On the 13th of January, 
1668, there are entries relating to other persons, resident in 
Thaxted, in the Visitation Records: Robert Kent, Giles 
Barker, and John Dunmowe. Kent's offence was not bringing 
his child to be baptized, according to the ordinance of the 
Church of England ; Barker's, having unlawful meetings at 
his house, and private conventicles; and Dunmowe's, frequent- 
ing unlawful meetings, and exciting others to do the same; and 
also, c collecting monies for those that doe unlawfully teach at 
those meetings,' and 'going to conventicles.' On the same day 
Parkin also appeared before the court, and from the minutes it 
appears that it was not for the first time. His offence was, 
c preaching at unlawful meetings and private conventicles some- 
times on the Lord's day, he being an excommunicate person, 
drawing many from the church of God.' This court was also 
held at Dunmow. Under date of September 5, 1672, I find a 
license granted to the house of John Reynolds to be a 'Pres- 
byterian meeting place,' but I find no record of any license 
taken out by Parkin."* 

How far Parkin may have contributed to the origin of the 
church here cannot now be ascertained. Tradition connects 
the church with the labours of Jonathan Paine, and at a later 
date with the itinerant labours of the little church at Wendon. 
The first pastor, of whom any record has been preserved, 
is William Notcutt, who was ordained here in 1705. In 
1 7 16, the congregation is returned as consisting of five hundred 

# License Book, S. P. O., ante p. 340. 



49 6 Francis Chandler. 

hearers, twenty of whom had votes for Essex, and four of 
whom are described as c gentlemen.' Notcutt was succeeded 
by John Fofter; Fofter, in 1730, by Thomas Hide ; Hide, in 
1737, by David Parry; and Parry, in 1770, by John Fell. 
In 1787, Fell became tutor at Homerton. He publifhed, 
1. An Essay on the Love of one's Country.' 8vo. 2. 
' Three Letters on Genuine Proteftantism.' 1773, 8vo. 3. 
c A Fourth Letter on the same subject.' 1775. 4. 'The 
Juftice and Utility of Penal Laws.' 1774. 5. c An Eflay 
on Durances.' 8vo., 1779. 6. c A Letter to Dr. (Hugh) 
Farmer on the Idolatry of Greece.' 1785. 7. ' An Essay 
towards an Englifh Grammar.' 1784. 8. 'A Review of the 
Eirsac irrsposvra, (of Home Tooke).' 1784. 9. C A Review 
of Savary's Letters on Egypt.' 10. c Lectures on the Evi- 
dences of Chriftianity.' Fell was succeeded by John Jennings ; 
Jennings by Jofhua Sewell, and Sewell by the present minifter, 
the Rev. J. C. Rooke.* 

Theydon Mount. — Francis Chandler. His first settlement 
in Essex was at Woodham Ferrers. The rectory had been 
sequeftered from William Clutterbuck, for what reason I have 
not been able to ascertain. May 2, 1646, there is an entry in 
the minutes of the Committee for Plundered Minifters to the 
effect, that the living having been sequeftered to c Solomon 
Carswill, who is returning to his own county in the west, it 
shall be sequestered to Francis Chandler (sic).' The Rev. 
R. St. John ShirrerF, the present rector of Woodham, obliges 
me with extracts from the parish register, one of which refers 
to the baptism of Francis Chandler's son, July 23, 1646, and 
the other to the burial of Hannah, his wife, in July, 1655. 
The return for Woodham in 1650 is, ' Mr. F. Chandlour (sic), 
an able and godly preacher.' It was from Woodham Ferrers 
that he removed to Theydon. f 

The rectory of Theydon had also been sequeftered, It was 
from c Nicholas Wright, doctor in divinity, for that he hath 

* Morison and Blackburn MSS. the living of Danbury. Lands. MSS. 

f Add. MSS. 15669 ; Carswill, infra 5 459. 
Clutterbuck was restored, and also had 



They don Mount. 497 

not preached above twice or thrice a year to the parifhioners, 
and yet hath presented divers of them and put them to great 
charges in the Ecclefiastical Court, for going to hear sermons 
in other churches, when they had none at home, and brought 
also such minifters as they heard so preach into trouble ; and 
hath procured the communion table to be set altar-wise, with 
stepps to it and railes about it, and conftantly bowed towards it 
at his coming in and going out of the church; refufing to ad- 
minifter the sacrament to divers of his parifhioners without any 
cause, other than his own wilfulness ; and read the Book for 
Sports on the Lord's day in his said church, and preached to 
maintain the lawfulnesse of it, by means whereof the Lord's 
day hath ever since been much prophaned by foot-ball playing, 
and other ungodly practises ; and hath deserted his said cure 
ever since Palm Sunday last, and betaken himself to the army 
of the cavaleers, and is in actual war against the Parliament and 
kingdom; and hath brought and continued long under him for a 
curate a drunken, lewd, and scandalous person, that hath been 
indited and found guilty at the seffions for a common drunkard.' 
March 1, 1644, Katharine, Wright's wife, and Alice and Mary, 
his daughters, petitioned the Committee for Plundered Minis- 
ters for some provifion to be made for their maintenance, and 
they were ordered to receive ' a full fifth of the income of the 
sequeftered rectory, including theEafterbooke.' * 

The immediate succefTor of Wright was John Feriby, or 
Fereby ; he was chosen of the c Classis,' and also signed both 
the i Essex Teftimony ' and the c Essex Watchword.' ' He 
freely and voluntarily set up, and for some time conftantly and 
gainelessly maintained, a lecture at Epping.' He was probably 
the John Ferebee, as Wood spells the name, who was of 
Oriel College, Oxford, and took the degree of B.A. in 1601, 
and that of M.A. in 1606. The return in 1650 is, 'John 
Fereby, by order of the Committee for Plundered Minifters, 
an able, godly minifter.' The Rev. Sir C. H. Foster obliges 
me with several extracts from the parish regifter, from which 

* The First Century, p. 18 ; Add. MSS. 15669 ; March I, 18, 1644; May 3, 
1645, zoi, 246, 260. 

M M 



49 8 John Feriby. 

it appears that c Samuel, the son of John Fereby, was baptized 
here January 15, 1646, and Sarah, his daughter, September \\ 
and that John Feriby himself was 'buried here, September 29, 
1652.' He was the author of, 1. ' The Lawful Preacher; or, 
a short discourse, shewing that they only ought to preach who are 
ordained minifters : occafionally delivered in some lectures at 
Epping, by John Fereby, now printed, upon the anti-preaching 
of some against it in the same pulpit, about the latter end of 
November last.' Lond., 1652-3, 4to. 2. ' The Pulpit Guard 
relieved ; a short appendix to a late book called the Pulpit 
Guard rowted, written by Thomas Collier.' Lond., 1652-3, 
4to. Wood says, this Collier was a husbandman, afterwards a 
teacher to the church at York, and, in 1652, a teacher at 
Westbury, in Somersetshire. * 

Feriby was succeeded by Robert Adkins, afterwards ejected 
in Exeter. Chandler succeeded Adkins. Sir C. H. Fofter 
also obliges me with several extracts from the regifter relating 
to him, among others, that of the baptism of Francis, his son, 
by Rebekah, his then wife, November 9, 1658 ; and also that 
of Daniel, their son, March 29, 1662. Chandler was ejected 
under the Act for the Confirming and Restoring of Ministers ; 
and James Meggs was instituted to the vacancy 16th February, 
1660-61. 'Meggs, the next day after his induction, desired 
Chandler to be his assistant, and allowed him twenty shillings 
per week for it. This is the account,' adds Calamy, ' that I 
have given me -by one of his family.' The same writer also 
says of Chandler, 'he was a serious, bold, awakening, and 
popular preacher. . . . He was very desirous of King Charles' 
restoration, and prayed for him as rightful king some time 
before, and on May 29, 1660, went to London with great joy 
to see his pompous entrance. Dr. Meggs much pressed him to 
conform, and though he could not be satisfied to comply with 
the terms that were fixed, he continued very kind to him. 
Judge Archer was Mr. Chandler's intimate friend, and several 
others of rank and fafhion in those parts shewed him a good 

* Wood, Fast. i. 160. 



John Overed. 499 

deal of civility and respect. In 1657 he married Rebekah, 
daughter of councillor Coys, with whom he had some houses at 
London, the rent of which comfortably supported him after his 
ejectment till the year 1666, when the fire consumed them, by 
which he was reduced. But God raised him up friends, whose 
kindness supported him. His farewell sermon, preached from 
Heb. xiii. 20, 21, occasioned a great many weeping eyes. He 
afterwards commonly attended the publick service of the 
Church of England, and preached between the forenoon and 
afternoon service, and in the evening, probably in his own 
house, or at other places, as he had opportunity. On the other 
days of the week he had also frequently preaching work, and 
was often called in to assist in private days of fasting and 
prayer, and yet I don't hear he ever met with any disturbance. 
.... In the beginning of March, 1665-6, he removed to 
Stortford, and there enjoyed the agreeable conversation of good 
Mr. Ely, till about May, 1667, when he, in the prime of his 

years, exchanged this for a better life He would 

often say, c incipienti, progredienti et proflcienti Deus mihi sit 
propitius.' * 

Toppesfield. — John Overed. Calamy says, that 'in his 
younger time he lived in the house of Mr. (John?) Mead, in 
the parish of Finchingfield, whither Mr. Stephen Marfhall 
used to come very frequently.' 

The living of Toppesfield seems to have been sequestered 
from Laurence Burnell, one of the King's chaplains, and who, 
according to Walker, was also 'chancellor and canon resi- 
dentiary of the cathedral church at Exeter.' Overed was 
already here at the appointment of the 'Classis.' Burnell died 
November 12, 1647, and Overed was then appointed to the 
vacancy, under the following order of the House of Lords, 20th 
July, 1648: 'Whereas the rectory and church of Toppesfield 
is now void by the death of Dr. Laurence Burnell, being above 
value and immediately in his Majesty's gift, and now at the 
disposal of both Houses of Parliament, the Lords and Commons, 

* Cal. Ace. 312; Cont. 488. Judge Archer, of the Common Pleas; see 
Morant. Adkins, infra ; Meggs, ante j Ely, ante p. 406. 

M M 2 



500 John Overed. 

in Parliament assembled, taking note thereof, and to the end 
that the said rectory and church .... may be supplied with 
an orthodox and godly minister, have ordered and ordained and 
appointed .... John Overed, clerk, to be rector of ... . 
Toppesfield. . . . And the Commissioners of the Great Seal 
are hereby authorized to pass the grant .... unto John 
Overed accordingly.' 

Overed signed the 'Essex Testimony' in 1648, and also the 
'Essex Watchword' in 1649. In 1650 he is returned as, 'an 
able, godly preaching minister.' 

At the restoration Clement Thurfton petitioned for the living 
and obtained it, notwithstanding the formal presentation made 
to Overed by the Parliament, on the legal avoidance of the 
rectory by the death of Burnell. Overed then petitioned for 
a revocation of the grant to Thurfton, succeeded, and obtained 
a patent for himself. But Thurfton again appealed to Charles, 
alleging, that ' the living had been sequeftered for Burnell, 
and that Overed had obtained the revocation by secret, sinifter 
representations, and that, God not honouring his fraud, he was 
rejected for insufficiency,' and soliciting a 'new presentation.' 
He was again successful, and Overed was finally ejected, 
under an order issued by the clerk of the privy council, in 
compliance with the following inftructions : ' Whereas, Mr. 
John Overed hath, by sinifter meanes, procured from us our 
royall patent for a presentation to the rectory of Toppesfield, 
and hath been since, upon due examination had before the 
Right Reverend Father in God, Gilbert, Bimop of London, 
adjudged insufficient for that cure, we doe, by these presents, 
revoke the late letters of presentation -, and our will and 
pleasure is, that you will prepare a bill for our royall signature, 
to pass our greate seale, containing a presentation of Clement 
Thurfton, clerke, to the said rectory.' Notwithftanding this 
order, however, Thurfton was not inducted to the living. 
Overed's successor was Edward Wolley, the date of whose 
admiffion is 2nd March, 1 660-1. Wolley had also been one 
of the chaplains of Charles I., and was one of between forty 
and fifty clergymen, who, having joined the King at Oxford, 



Hedingham. 501 

were rewarded with the degree of D.D., in 1642. Wood 
says of him : ' He became rector of a church in Essex .... 
to settle the inhabitants thereof in loyal principles, and undo 
and invalidate the doctrine which that most notorious Inde- 
pendent, Stephen Marfhall, had inftilled into them.' This 
statement, notwithstanding its blunders, as to the name of the 
parish, and the principles of Marfhall, who was anything but 
an Independent, throws some light, perhaps, upon the c insuffi- 
ciency ' of Overed. Wolley remained at Toppesfield until 
1665, when he was promoted to the episcopal see of Clonfort 
and Kilmacogh, in Ireland ; but he does not seem to have 
been very successful in undoing the work of Overed, as in 
that year there is an entry in the Archidiaconal Visitation 
Book of a c conventicle still held in the parish, in the house 
of one Thomas Cromwell. ' 

After his ejectment from Toppesfield, Overed seems to have 
removed to Caftle Hedingham. On the declaration of indul- 
gence, he took out a license to be c a Prefbyterian teacher in 
his house ' in that parish, and at the same time one for c his 
house to be a Prefbyterian meeting place.' The entry of the 
licenses bears date June 10, 1672.* 

There are diftinct traces of a church at Castle Hedingham 
as early as 1706, and from that date the succeffion of paftors 
is clear. John Barker was the minifter in 1708, and Thomas 
Fisher in 17 13. In 17 16 the congregation is returned as 
consisting of five hundred hearers, twenty-eight of whom had 
votes for Essex, and one for Suffolk ; and one of whom is 
described as an c esquire,' and thirteen as c gentlemen/ In 
1 7 19 the old meeting house was built. William Ford, a 
descendant of Nathaniel Vincent, the ejected minifter of 
Langley Marsh, in the county of Bucks, succeeded in 1732, 
and was succeeded by Robert Stevenson. Stevenson died 
January 1, 1822, and was succeeded by the present minifter, 
the Rev. Samuel Steer, f 

* Cal. Ace. 304; Cont. 466; Walker ante p. 3405 Wolley; Wood, Fast. 

ii. 25; Jour. H. of L. x. 372, 404; ii. 31. 

Jour. H. of C. v. 451; MSS. S. P. O. f Morison and ^Blackburn MSS.; 

Charles II. 1660; License Book, S. P O., Returns of 1716, ante pp. 171,290,385. 



502 John Robotham. 

Upminster. — John Robotham. The rectory had been 
sequeftered from John Halke, of whom there is a long entry 
in the Journal of the House of Lords, under date of 12th 
June, 1 64.1. Michael Halke, who had been instituted to the 
rectory, 12th August, 16 15, had petitioned the House, his 
petition had been handed to a committee, and the committee 
that day reported that, ' after the petitioner had personally 
officiated the cure for some years, on the prosecution of 
Chriftopher Denn (sic), he was imprisoned, degraded, and 
deprived by the High Commission Court, which they con- 
ceived was illegally done ; and that, after the deprival of the 
petitioner, Chriftopher Denn himself was put into the living, 
and on the death of Denn, John Halke was inftituted and 
inducted as his succeflbr.' It was under these circumstances, 
therefore, that Michael Halke had appealed to the House. 
Having given the report, the entry proceeds to say : c In con- 
sideration of all which, and in recompense and satisfaction, it 
is thought fit and ordered, that Michael Halke shall yearly 
receive, during his natural life, out of the rectory of Up- 
minfter, the sum of ^40, and that John Halke shall give 
personal security for the payment, for his time.' In August, 
1646, articles were exhibited against John Halke, before the 
Committee for Plundered Minifters, who referred the case 
to the examination of the committee for the county, then 
sitting at Romford. From this it would appear that the 
offences laid to his charge were political rather than ecclesias- 
tical. The committee now appear to have dismilTed the case, 
as, in the month of September, articles were again exhibited 
against him before the Committee for Plundered Minifters, 
who resolved, c that as he had been discharged at Romford, the 
articles could not be entertained.' By July, 1647, however, 
Halke was again in trouble, when his case was once more 
referred to the local committee, and it was now that his 
sequestration took place, but not without an appeal to the 
House of Lords, as, 26th August, 1648, it was ordered that 
c the minister that now officiates the cure shall show cause, by 
this day fortnight, why John Halke should not be restored to 



Upminster. 503 

the living.' His immediate successor was Marmaduke James, 
who appears among the subscribers to the c Essex Teftimony,' 
in 1648, and also to the c Essex Watchword/ in 1649. 
James was also here in 1650, when he is reported c by seques- 
tration from Mr. Hawk (sic), an able, godly preaching minifter.' 
He is probably the same person who, as minifter of Watton 
at Stone, in the county of Hertford, published c The Best Fee 
Simple ; set forth in a sermon at St. Peter's, Cornhill, before 
the gentlemen and citizens born in the county of Notts, 18th 
February, 1657.' Lond., 1659, 4to. 

At what date Robotham succeeded does not appear. He 
publifhed, 1. c The Preciousness of Christ to Believers, in a 
treatise shewing the absolute necessity, the transcendant excel- 
lency, the super-eminent grace, the beauty, rarity, and usefulness 
of Christ is opened and applied.' 1647. This little book was 
reprinted, London, 1669, 8vo, 2. c An Exposition on the 
whole Book of Solomon's Songs.' Lond., 1652, 4to. 3. c The 
Myftery of the Two WitnefTes Unveiled ; wherein we have 
a description of the persons, times, acts, death and office, 
manner of prophecie, sufferings, resurrection, with the con- 
sequences that followed : together with the seventh trumpet, 
and the kingdom of Christ explained.' Lond., 1654, i2mo. 
He was then minifter at Dover. Watt, Bibl. Brit, adds : 
c Disquifitio iu Hypothesin Baxterianam de Foedere Gratiae 
ab initio, et deinceps semper et ubique omnibus induito, &c.' 
Lond., 1694, 1698, 8vo. From this last it is clear that he 
survived his ejectment, which took place in 1660, several years. 
In 1672, September 1.0, the house of Samuel Springham 
was licensed to be a ' Prefbyterian meeting house.' * 

The present Congregational chapel was not erected until 
1800. The Rev. H. Madgin obliges me with the following 
succession of paftors. Rev. John Rogers, 1824 ; Rev. John 

* Cal. Cont. 490 ; Jour. H. of Lords present rector, obliges me with a copy of 

iv. 273; Add. MSS. 15670, 392, 446 j the following entry in the parish regifter 

15671,92; Jour. H. of Lords x. 460; atWatton: ' 1653, Nov. 16, Mrs. James, 

Lands. MSS. 459 ; License Book, S. P. O. wife of Mr. J., minifter, buried.' 
The Hon. and Rev. S. Barrington, the 



504 Chriflopher Scott. 

Woodwark, 1827; Rev. R. H. Smith, 1832; Rev. Robert 
Thompson, 1843; Rev. Thomas Joseph, 1847; Rev. Geo. 
Kettle, 1854; Rev. Henry Madgin, 1862. 

Great Wakering. — Chriflopher Scott. He was admitted 
to the vicarage 17th November, 1644, apparently on the pre- 
sentation of Juxon, bifhop of London. He was first of 
Christ's College, Cambridge, w T here he took the degree of 
B.A. in 1639, and afterwards of Caius, where he took the 
degree of M.A. in 1640. His name appears among the sub- 
scribers to the c Essex Teftimony ' in 1648, and also to the 
'Essex Watchword' in 1649. In 1650 he is returned as, 
a ' very able, preaching minifler.' Scott edited and publifhed 
'A Practical Commentary; or, an exposition in observations, 
reasons, and uses, upon the 1st General Epistle of John, by 
Mr. John Cotton, pastor of Boston, in New England.' Lond., 
1656. He dates the epistle to the reader, 'From my study in 
Much Wakering, in Essex, October 15, 1655.' Cotton was 
of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and settled in Boston, in 
Lincolnfhire. Here he married Elizabeth, daughter of James 
Horrocks, an excellent minifter, in Lancafhire, and of the same 
family with Thomas Horrocks. After labouring at Boston for 
twenty years, Cotton was compelled to fly to New England. 
This was in 1633. Among his companions on the voyage was 
Thomas Hooker. On his arrival in America, he was shortly 
chosen co-pastor with John Wilson, at Boston. He kept up a 
constant correspondence with his old friends in England, and 
among others with Oliver Cromwell, and especially on the 
subject of the propagation of the gospel in America. There 
is a chara&eriftic letter of Cromwell's, addressed to him in 
October, 1651, printed by Brooks, and also by Carlyle. 
Nathaniel Rogers was on terms of great intimacy with him, as 
also was Peter Bulkley, who composed an elegant Latin elegy 
on his death. Cotton died at Boston, New England, 
December 23, 1652. Cotton Mather was his grandson. 

In the Visitation Book of the archdeaconry, 1662, the 
minute is, ' Mr. Christopher Scott, vacat. rat. stat.' After his 
ejectment he removed, as it should appear, to Prittlewell. 



yohn Harrison. 5 05 

May 16, 1672, he took out a license to be a ' Prefbyterian 
teacher, in the house of Robert Butler,' in this parish, and at 
the same date a license was granted to that house to be a 
c Prefbyterian meeting place.' Calamy says, c he was a very 
worthy man .... Two of his successors in this living 
(probably Thomas Edwards and John Barton) did not think it 
beneath them to take instructions from him how to preach to 
their parifhioners.' 

After his ejectment, Scott published ' The Saint's Priviledge; 
or, gain by dying.' Lond., 1673. 4-to. This was a funeral 
sermon for Marjory, the wife of Captain Robert Fifher, to 
whom he addresses a prefatory epistle, dated c from my study 
in Milton Hamlet, this 3rd Jan., 1672.' There is also another 
prefatory epistle addressed to ' Captain John Bradman, and 
Mrs. Sarah Bradman, relations to, Captain Richard Horrock, 
Mr. Israel Heath, Mr. Richard Fifher, brothers-in-law to, 
and Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher, daughter-in-law to, Mrs. Marjory 
Fisher.' * 

Little Waltham. — yohn Harrison. We first meet with 
him at Great Waltham, where he succeeded Samuel Noell. 
He was inftituted to this rectory November 23, 1643. He 
was on the c Classis' for Little Waltham in 1647, and there he 
also signed the c Essex Teftimony ' in 1648. In 1650 he is 
reported as, ' an able, godly minifter/ Mr. Veley, to whose 
more than courtesy I am so greatly indebted, obliges me with 
the following copy of the inftitution of his successor, Thomas 
Aleyn. c Decimo nono Jan'rii 1662, juxta mandatum Dni 
Gilberti London' Ep'i Emanavit commissio ad inducend' Tho- 
mam Aleyn, Cl'ricum, S. T. P. ad Rectoriam Eccl'iae p'o'alis 
de Waltham p'va, in com' Essex' per non-subscriptionem ultimi 
incumbentis ibidem (secundum actum parliam' aut alio quo- 
cunq' modo) Ad quam ven' lem viru' Gulielmum Jones, de 
Greys Inn Ar' et Eliza'm ejus uxorem Guardianos (jure d'c'ae 
Elizabethae) cujusd' Arabellas Aleyn, minoris filiae unicae et 

* See Thomas Peck, p. 443 ; Lands. Carlyle's Cromwell ii. 356 — 3595 License 
MSS. 459 ; Mather, Magnalia iii. c. i. ; Book, ante p. 340. 
Brooks, Lives of Puritans iii. 151; 



506 William Pavel, William Raihband. 

haeredis D'ni Edmundi Aleyn Baronetti def : veraeq' et indubit' 
ejusd ; Rectoriae Patronisse p'ntatus extitit.' 

After his ejectment, Harrison removed to Pebmarsh, where, 
under date April 2, 1672, his house was licensed as a c meeting 
house/ and he himself was also licensed as a ' teacher ' in 
his own house. * 

Little Warley. — William Pavel. The return for this 
parish in 1650 is, c Thimelby Holden, an able, godlv minister.' 
From the parish register it appears that Holden was buried 
there January 6, 1652, and that he was succeeded by William 
Gants. Powel succeeded Gants at Michaelmas, 1653. There 
is but one entry relating to Powel personally: c Enoch, fiiius 
Gulielmi Powel, rectoris de Warley pva, qui sepultus erat 
vicessimo quinto die Octobris, 1654.' The minute in the 
Visitation Book of the archdeaconry in 1662 is, 'Will. Powel, 
rect. va. rat. star..' f 

South Weald. — William Rafhband. The living was 
sequestered from Samuel Baker, who was admitted to the 
rectory April 4, 1640, on the presentation of Juxon, bifhop 
of London. Wood says of Baker, that he 'was M.A. of Arts 
of Christ's College, in Cambridge, and afterwards became a 
Puritanical preacher in London, and much followed; but being 
taken off from these courses, was made household chaplain to 
the bifhop of London, and a creature of Dr. Laud, arch- 
biihop of Canterbury.' He had been rector of St. Margaret 
Pattens, in the city of London, which living he resigned in 
1637. Besides his chaplaincy and the censorfhip of the press, 
he also held, at the date of his sequestration, the rectory of St. 
Mary Hill, London; the prebend of Totenhall, in the cathedral 
of St. Paul's ; and another prebend at Canterbury, besides this 
vicarage at Weald. Not long before this, Richard Carpenter, 
'having made a recantation sermon at Paul's, was angrily 
denved the publication of it, per Dr. Baker ; the reason, be- 
cause the church of Rome and we are in a peaceable way, and 

* Cal. Ace. 306; License Book, p. 490, he is wrongly identified with John 
ante p. 340. Powel who signed the 'Essex TerUmony' 

f Cal. Ace. 313. In the Continuation, in 1648. 



South Weald. 507 

therefore not fitt to augment controversies.' The proceedings, 
in Baker's case, began in the House of Lords, April 28, 1643, 
when order was given to summon him to appear at the bar to 
answer the charges which had been alleged against him. On 
the day appointed, May 6, Baker not appearing, and affidavit 
being read of the service of the order, the Lords postponed 
the case for a week, and gave directions for a second order to 
be served upon him by their officer. On the 13th also, he 
failed to appear, when a third order was directed to be served 
upon him for the following Tuesday, and the Lords resolved 
that he should pay the expenses of the witnesses during the 
interval. On the 16th, Baker appeared, and confessed that c he 
hath two livings, and hath two prebends, one of which is of 
Canterbury, where he is bound by his oath to reside three quarters 
of a year, and confesses he hath had some misfortune in licensing 
books, which he is sorry for.' The House then adjudged that, 
' Dr. Baker should be sequestered from the profits and officiating 
in the parish church of South Weald, till the further pleasure 
of the House be known,' There is not a word thus far said 
of his other living at St. Mary Hill, nor have I met with any 
reference to his sequeftration there elsewhere. No appointment 
appears to have been made to South Weald until August 6, 
1646, — more than three years after Baker's sequeftration 'during 
the pleasure of the House.' But on that day an order was 
issued for settling Nicholas Folkingham in the vicarage, which 
order was sent down to the Commons on the 3rd of September 
following. Folkingham's name appears on the ' Classis,' and 
also among the subscribers to the 'Essex Teilimony' in 1648, 
where it is plainly misprinted Farchingham. My friend, the 
Rev. H. P. Bowen, who was allowed free access to the regifters 
by the courtesy of the present vicar, the Rev. C. a Belli, sends 
me copies of several entries relating to Folkingham, from which 
it appears that he was here as early as February, 1643. The 
return for 1650 reports, 'Mr. Goodwin, by order of the Com- 
mittee for Plundered Minifters, is vicar.' The signature of 
Thomas Goodwin appears among the subscribers to the ' Eflex 
Watchword,' in 1648, but simply as ' minifter of the word,' 



508 South Weald. 

without any indication of residence. My friend also sends me 
copies of the following entries relating to him : 'Elizabeth 
Goodwin, daughter of Tho. Goodwin, baptized 2nd of De- 
cember, 1 65 1. Thomas Goodwin, sonne of Thomas Goodwin, 
was born ye 8th January, and baptized ye 17th of ye same. 
Jane Goodwin, daughter of Mr. Tho. Goodwin, minifter 
of this parish, and of Ellen, his wife, was born the 7th of 
June, and baptized the 21st of the same, 1657. Thomas 
Goodwin, minifter of Weald, buried September 6, 1658. 
Jane Goodwyn (sic), buryed November 10, 1658/ The 
Rev. C. a Belli himself obliges me with a copy of the inscrip- 
tion on the tablet which is erected to Goodwin's memory, 
at South Weald : S. M. ] Thomae Goodwyn | In Artibus 
Magistri Collegii Johannensis | Cantabrigiensis socii olim 
Caleberrimi, hujus | Ecclesiae Vicarii doctissimi, gravissimi | 
Desideratissimi | Obiit | Anno Dni 1658 | Sept. 4 | Si mea 
cum coelo valuissent vota, supremum | Tu mihi dixisses, 
Maxime Praeco, vale | Nunc, tua dum Claudo morientia 
lumina pro Te | Hoc, Mea Funebris Concio, carmen erit | 
Ingenui mores, Pietas, Facundia, Templi | Lumen, Chrifte, 
Tui, Clauditur hoc Tumido. | Sic flevit. dum amoris hoc 
et amicitiae | Monumentum posuit. | Johannes Leech.' 

Goodwin publifhed, c A Fair Prospect; shewing clearly the 
difference between things that are seen and things that are not 
seen ; in a sermon preached at the funeral of the Hon. Lady 
Judith Barrington, at Knebworth, in Hertfordfhire. By Tho. 
Goodwin, late fellow of St. John's College, in Cambridge, now 
minifter of the gospel at South Weald, in Essex.' Lond., 
1658, 4-to. The epiftle dedicatory is dated Brentwood, Oct. 
24, 1657. 

It should appear that Rathband succeeded to the vicarage on 
the death of Goodwin, although there are no traces of him in 
the parish regifter. He was a son of William Rathband, 
who wrote, c A most grave and modest Refutation of the 
Errors of the Sect commonly called Brownifts ;' a brother of 
Nathaniel Rathband, some time preacher at the cathedral, 
York, and whom Heywood speaks of as preaching a sermon 



Samuel Dowel, "John Cole. 509 

in John Angier's study, on the occasion of the betrothal of 
that good man's daughter to a Yorkfhire minifter; and a 
relative, probably, of Abel Rathband, of Writtle. He was 
educated at Oxford, but where he had been previously settled, 
if anywhere, I have not been able to discover. The entry in 
the Visitation Book of the archdeaconry in 1662 is, c Will. 
Rathbone (sic), vacat. rat. stat.' c After many removes,' says 
Calamy, speaking of him after his ejectment, c he settled at 
Highgate, where he continued to his death, in October, 1695.' 
His funeral sermon was preached at Highgate, on the 13th of 
October, by his friend and fellow-collegian, Samuel Slater. 
The sermon was immediately publifhed, London, 1695, 8vo. 
Slater says of Rathband : ' It is above fifty years since our 
first acquaintance, we having been of the same college, and 
under the same tutor. He was a learned man, and, as I am 
persuaded, truly godly ; one that denied himself, and suffered 
much for conscience sake. I care better to do you good, not 
to commend him, for that is needless ; you having known his 
doctrine and manner of life.' 

We find that three houses in this parish were licensed to be 
Prefbyterian meeting houses, in 1657 > tne nouse of Ralph 
Taylor, and that of John Bell, July 16 ; and the house of 
John Springham, September 30. * 

Weeley. — Samuel Dowel. One James Parkinson, who 
was instituted April 4, 1607, on tne presentation of James I., 
held the rectory, and Dowel was c hired ' by him as his curate, 
as appears from the return in 1650. Beyond this fact, and that 
his Chriftian name was Samuel, which I also have on the same 
authority, I have been able to ascertain nothing of Dowel, f 

Wethersfield. — John Cole. He was a native of Ipswich, 
and Calamy says, that he also c had been fellow of Jesus 

* Cal. Ace. 306, 472; Wood, Fast. 15669, March 29, 1645, April 3,1645; 

i. 226} Newc. i. 214; Sir Edward Lands. MSS. 459 ; License Book, S. P. 

Deering's notes, proceedings principally in O. j Goodwin Halley, Memoir of Tho. 

the county of Kent, 1640; Camden Soc. G. prefixed to his works, Nichol., 1862; 

1862, p. 85 ; Jour. H. of C. iii. 58 ; iv. see ante p. 185. 

661 ; Jour. H. of L. vi. 21-33, 44> 47 > t Cal - Acc - 3°8 J Lands. MSS. 459. 
viii. 454, 479. See also Add. MSS. 



510 John Cole. 

College, Cambridge,' which statement is confirmed by the 
inscription on his tombstone, in Wethersfield. He was M.A. 
of his University. He first settled at Burwell, in Cambridge- 
shire, the vicarage of which parish, together with a fellowship 
in Corpus Christi, Cambridge, according to Walker, had been 
sequeftrated from William Brearly. Here he was ' a zealous 
preacher, and an instrument of much good.' He removed 
from Burwell to Wethersfield in 1655. The vicarage of 
Wethersfield had been sequeftered from Philip Tennison, 
who also held the rectory of Hethersett, in the county 7 of 
Norfolk. He was not deprived of his living of Hethersett, 
however. The Rev. R. W. Collett, the present rector of 
that parish, obliges me with copies of entries in the parish 
regifter, from which it appears that he was still rector as lately 
as 1659. This would seem to indicate that he was sequestered 
at Wethersfield for plurality and non-residence. Cole's pre- 
decessor here was Daniel Weld, who was chosen of the 
c Classis,' who also signed the ' Essex Watchword ' in 1649, 
and who is returned in 1650 as, 'an able, godly, preaching 
minifter.' Cole was a worthy successor of Richard Rogers. 
He was ejected under the act of 1660. ' When he preached 
his farewell sermon,' says Calamy, who is clearly mistaken as 
to the date, ' there was such a vast appearance of people met 
as had scarce been seen for twenty years before. There was 
a great mourning and lamentation.' 

He was succeeded on the 3rd of November, in that year, 
by Joseph Gierke, who died in a few months, and was suc- 
ceeded by Henry Pelsant, who conformed. Calamy says of 
Pelsant, whom he describes as ' a sober, grave man, of 
good conversation, though no great preacher,' that ' he had 
been so zealous for the common prayer, that he read it in 
Oliver's time ; and when the large prayer book was taken 
away, he used a small volume which he carried in his pocket.' 

After his ejectment, Cole soon got into trouble. In 1663, 
he was cited in the Spiritual Court, excommunicated, and, in 
February or March of that year, he was committed to prison. , 
'When Pelsant, the vicar, read the sentence of excommunica- 



yohn Cole. 511 

tion against him in the parish church, he did it with tears in 
his eyes, and said that it was the bitterest pill that he had ever 
taken in his life.' After his release, Cole resumed preaching, 
when a c capias ' was issued against him, and ultimately he was 
again apprehended, and now continued in prison, at Colchester 
and at Chelmsford, for seven or eight years. In 1669, he is 
reported to Shelden as c now in Chelmsford gaol, for a con- 
venticle at Wethersfield.' In 1672, under date of April 21, 
there is entry of ' John Coale's house in Wethersfield,' being 
licensed to be a Presbyterian meeting place, and, under the 
same date, of c John Coale ' being licensed to be a ' Presby- 
terian teacher in his house in Wethersfield.' He was buried 
in the church-yard at Wethersfield. The following is the 
inscription on his tomb-stone : c Here lieth the body of John 
Cole, master of arts, and fellow of Jesus College, in Cam- 
bridge. He was a faithful and painful minister of Christ. 
He was called to preach the gospel at Wethersfield, in the 
year 1655, and died there April 11, 1673. He was aged 
about 52 years. The memory of the just is blessed.' 

After the death of Cole his congregation continued to meet, 
and shortly Robert Dod, who since his ejectment from Inworth 
had preached at Sible Hedingham, became their minifter. It 
is said of him, that c he was obliged to change his place of 
preaching, and that he sometimes preached to a large congre- 
gation in the fields/ Dod died at Wethersfield, and was 
buried there. The inscription on his tomb is as follows : 
' Here lyes the body of Robert Dod, who was minister of the 
gospel at Wethersfield. He dyed April 9, 1695, aged sixty- 
three years.' His widow, who married again to one Merills, 
died December 28, 1704. A John Harrison, who had served 
the public in the capacity of minister for many years, with very 
small encouragement, now seems to have had charge of the 
congregation for a time, and the next pastor was his son, of the 
same name with himself, a M.A. of the University of Glasgow. 
In 1707 a meeting house was erected, in which Harrison 
preached until his death in October, 1749. In 17 16 the 
congregation is returned as consisting of six hundred hearers, 



512 Robert BilUo. 

of whom twenty-six had votes for the county, and twelve 
are described as 'gentlemen.' Harrison published, c Death 
Abolifhed for all Believers \ or, late penitents warned and sinners 
encouraged. A sermon occafioned by the death of S. F., who 
died in the twenty-eighth year of her age ; with preface and 
appendix,' 1743. A Mr. Richardson was Harrison's aflistant 
for a time. Harrison was succeeded by George Powel. 
Samuel Perry became the pastor in 1765, and was succeeded 
by Thomas Mark in 1796 ; Mark by the Rev. Peter Sibree, in 
1822; and Sibree by the present minifter, the Rev. J. H. 
Cadoux, in 1836. * 

Wickham Bishops. — Robert BilUo. He was a native of 
Sible Hedingham, and educated at Caftle Hedingham, where 
he attended on the miniftry of Edmund Brewer. He was of 
Trinity College, Cambridge. On his leaving the University- 
he settled at West Bergholt, as an assiltant to Gregory 
Holland, who was inftituted to the rectory in 16 13. Depo- 
sitions had been taken against Holland, about August, 1644 ? 
when two witnesses gave evidence that, ' he preached that (it 
was not) fit for farmers and tradesmen to know the myftery of 
their salvation, but only for himself and such as he;' three, 
that ' he read the Book of Sports ;' three, ' that he compelled 
his parifhioners to come to the rails ;' four, that ' he deferred 
the sacrament till the raile was finifhed, and then in giving it, 
protefted, before God and (the) congregation, that he would not 
come out of the raile though he lost his living for it, and yet at 
that time came out to some that would not come up ;' two, ( that 
having subscribed ten pounds to the Parliament, he said he 
would go to prison before he paid it, and would do no more for 
the Parliament than he was forced to ;' two, that he c publifhed 
the Scots to be rebels, and prayed for their confusion ; ' two, that 
he said c the King and cavaliers stood to maintain the Protestant 
religion ; ' two, to his c swearing even in church ; ' and three, 
to his ' being a haunter of inns and taverns, and divers times 
drunke.' It is clear, however, from the parish registers, that 

* Cal. Ace. 3095 Cont. 164, 4815 Returns of 1669, ante p. 345 ; Returns of 
1 716, ante p. 353. 



Bergholt. 5 1 3 

Holland was not disturbed in his living, and, in 1650, the 
return is, ' Mr. Gregory Holland. He is aged and consents to 
a cure for better supply of his place, to be appointed by the 
parish/ There are several entries in the parish register re- 
lating to Billio. 

Billio removed from Bergholt to Hatfield Peverel, where 
there had been a vacancy for some time. His son, Joseph, was 
born there in 1668. While at Hatfield, Billio was so affected 
with the gout that he lost the use of his limbs, and was com- 
pelled to have recourse to crutches. Calamy tells us, that 
'when he had been in this condition for some time, he being 
one day alone in his parlour, had an encouraging impulse upon 
his spirit to go to prayer, and with some difficulty crept up to 
his chamber, and poured out his soul before the Lord. While 
he was praying, he found himself strengthened, and when he 
rose from his knees his pain was gone, and he walked as well 
as ever.' He removed to Wickham Bifhops about 1658, pro- 
bably on the death of Enoch Gray. He there remained until 
he gave way to Thomas Browning, his successor ; but under 
what circumftances is rendered somewhat doubtful, as the 
date of Browning's institution Newcourt makes to be 25th 
January, 1660, unless, indeed, this is a misprint. Calamy is 
positive as to his remaining at Wickham until 'he was turned 
out, August 24, 1662.' On the same authority, he is said to 
have continued at Wickham for some time after the passing of 
the Act of Uniformity ; and then to have removed to Yeldham, 
and from thence to Felfted. In December, 1664, one Jeffrey 
Meage, of Felfted, was cited before the archdeacon at Brain- 
tree, for having c a conventicle or unlawful meetinge in his 
house, where Mr. Billowe, an inconformist and unlicensed 
person, preacheth and expounded the Scriptures. Divers of 
the same parish, and other parishes, were present contrary to 

lawe Anna Walford and John Blomfield, his wife and 

daughters, were also cited as being present at that said con- 
venticle.' At Felfted he was greatly befriended by 'the good 
Countess of Warwick, whose life was published by Dr. Walker, 
and abridged by Mr. Clark, sometimes joyned in prayer with 

N N 



5 14 Robert Billio. 

him in her chamber and in her banquetting house in the 
Wilderness, and allowed him £5 per annum towards the 
educating of his eldest son for the miniftry, and continued it 
till 1678, when she died.' In 1668 we find him engaged with 
Barnard, Havers, Coleman, and Ball, in a public dispute with 
George Whitehead, the Quaker. In 1669 Billio is returned 
as having a 'conventicle' at Aythorp Roding, and also at 
Kelvedon; probably Kelvedon Hatch. In 1672 there is entry 
of a license granted to Billio, under date August 10, to be a 
' Presbyterian teacher in the house of — Hodge, in Hanvil ' 
(Hanningfield). Billio's labours continued to be spread over 
an extensive diftrict of the county until his death, which took 
place April 19, 1695, in the seventy-third year of his age. 'In 
times of persecution he was wonderfully preserved, though he 
was once very near being taken, when he was preaching at the 
house of Israel Mayo, Esq., at Bayford, near Hertford, being 
but just in time conveyed into a garret, and covered in a dark 
hole with billets. In the time of King James he, with most 
others, was full of fears as to the indulgence that was granted, 
and expressed his fears in the words of Nehemiah iv. 11: 
1 Our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, nor 
hear, till we come in the midst among them and slay them, 
and cause the work to cease.' .... There were few whose 
preaching did more affect the greatest part of his hearers than 
his.' ' 

Both of his sons entered the miniftry among the Noncon- 
formifts. Robert, the eldest, was brought up under Samuel 
Cradock, the ejected of North Cadbury, Somerset, who was 
for many years paftor of a church at Bifhop's Stortford. On 
the completion of his studies he became chaplain and tutor in 
the family of Sir Francis Beckley, at Attleborough, in Norfolk. 
While there he married a relation of the family, Sarah, 
the widow of Dudley Rider, the ejected of Bedworth, in 
Warwickshire. His first settlement, as a paftor, was at Chis- 
hill, in this county, where he taught school, and also, at the 
same time, preached at Cambridge. In the reign of James II. 
he fled into Holland, in order to avoid the threatening storm. 



Thomas Deer sky. 515 

Before the revolution he returned to England, and settled at St. 
Ives, Huntingdonshire. From St. Ives he removed to Hackney, 
where he succeeded the great and good William Bates, the 
ejected of St. Dunftan's in the West, who died paftor of a 
church at St. Thomas Square. Robert died May 5, 17 10, and 
was succeeded by the well-known Matthew Henry. Joseph 
became paftor of a church at Maldon.* 

Wickham St. Paul's. — Thomas Deersley. I can learn 
nothing of him previous to his settlement at Wickham. The 
rectory had been sequeftered from Timothy Claie. Depositions 
were taken against him at Halfted, March 21, 1643, when four 
witnesses gave evidence on oath, that ' he preached but once a 
day and provided no subftitute, and then railing at painful and 
godly minifters, and said that it was not lawfull to call people 
from their work on a weeke day to heare a sermon, adducing 
the fourth commandment to prove it;' two, that 'he deferred 
a sacrament, by him appointed and given out, till the raile was 
set up; and when it was up, he read the second service at it, 
threatening them with the High Commission that would not 
receive it there ; ' five, that he ' hath layne out drinking seven 
or eight dayes, till he was diftempered to diftracl:ion, (so) that 
Mr. Ady, his phisitian, sent him word that if he did not leave 
his drinking sack he would be starke mad ; and in his drinking 
of it, he, with another person now gone to Oxford, kept a 
noted .... with them, sometimes in private, the most part of 
two daies and nights, to the expense of above five libri to their 
parts, from Munday to Friday night, in their disorders;' three, 
that he was a 'common swearer;' and two, that 'he said he 
was sure God made a King but not a Parliament;' and that 
' he drank to Rupert, and saying the Queen and Rupert were 
right for us, but the King would come to the Parliament if he 
could;' and said, 'but when we have got him, we will keep 
him;' and that, 'there never were merrie days since the bimops 

* Cal. Cont. 478 ; Cole MSS. xxviii. Archdeaconry ; License Book, S. P. O., 
64, 65 j Lands. MSS. 459 ; Gray, pp. see ante p. 425 ; Anthony Walker, pp. 
299, 487; N. ii. 658} Lambeth MSS. 155,294,410; Lady Warwick, Ander- 
639, see ante 345 j Visitation Book of the son, ' Puritan Ladies.' 

N N 2 



516 Wickham St. Paul's. 

went downe, and that he would venture his life for the King, 
and go to him if he could, but would die in the roome rather 
than go to the Parliament/ 

Deersley appears to have immediately succeeded to the cure. 
He was on the c Classis ' in 1647. He signed the ' Essex 
Teftimony,' as minifter of Wickham, in 1648, and the c Essex 
Watchword' in 1649. The return m 1650 is, 'Thomas 
Dearsley (sic), an able and godly preaching minifter.' There 
are entries in the regifter of the baptism of Rebecca, the 
daughter of Thomas Deersley, and Joane, his wife, April, 
1646 ; and of those of John, their sonne, 23rd of May, 1652 ; 
Abigail, their daughter, February 15, 1654; Samuel, their son, 
9th July, 1656; and Susanna, their daughter, 26th April, 1660. 
At this last date the handwriting changes ; then we have entry 
of the baptism of William, the son of Thomas Deersley, 
clerke, March 3, 1662, apparently in another hand, certainly 
not in that of Deersley, and afterwards the handwriting changes 
again. This is precisely what we should expect. The dean 
and chapter of St. Paul's would have claimed the avoidance of 
the living as a sequeftration, because Claie still survived, and 
put some one in, if not as rector, at least to officiate the cure ; 
and on the 30th of November, 1662, they had presented 
Samuel Leake to the vacancy. Claie, or as his name is given 
in Newcourt, Clay, was admitted to the vicarage of High 
Eafter on the presentation of the dean and chapter, his old 
patrons. 

Thomas Deersley was certainly ejected. Calamy withdrew 
his name from his second edition, on the plea that he had been 
informed that he afterwards conformed, and became rector of 
Narter. But the person to whom his informant referred was 
John, and not Thomas Deersley, according to his own state- 
ment. John is probably the person referred to in the following 
entry in the parish regifter : c The 5th day of October, in the 
year 1656, there was a consent and agreement for the publifhing 
of a contract between John Deersley, single man, and Mar- 
garet, the daughter of William Hale, of the said parish of 
Wickham Sti Pauli, single woman, which was published three 



Thomas Deersley. 517 

several Lord's days in the said parish church, according to an 
Act of Parliament in that cause made and provided ; and the 
said parties were married the 23rd day of October, in the year 
of our Lord 1656, before me, Herbert Pelham.' * 

Among the Sancroft letters in the Harleian Collection, in 
the British Museum, there is one from Sir William Cooke, of 
Broome, Suffolk, and the brother-in-law of Thomas Wincoll, 
who then held the manor of Twinfted Hall, under date March 
25, 1665, which is not without its interest. After referring 
to some personal matters, Cooke proceeds to say : c Sir, I have 
a brother-in-law who lives in Effex, a very worthy person, 
who desires me to beg a favor of you for one Mr. Wefton, 
ye present incumbent of my brother's parish of Twinfted, 
in E. This request is, that if a small living, Wickham, 
being the adjacent towne, and in your gift, be voyd, as they 
are informed it is (for their parson have neglected his own 
cure a twelvemonth, and have a great eftate in Northampton- 
shire), and you have not yet disposed of it, I am very well 
assured, by persons of worth, that Mr. Wefton is an obedient 
son of our church, and of unspotted repute. I am likewise 
credibly informed that Wickham church being empty, and the 
parish generally fanatic, they have no ministers preach there 

* The Act referred to was one which registry as well of ' all publications as of 
confirmed a previous act of 1653, en- all marriages, and also of the births of 
tituled ' An Act touching Marriages and children, and deaths of all sorts of persons,' 
the regiftering thereof, and also touching in a book, for the keeping of which 
Births and Burials,' excepting one clause the inhabitants and householders of every 
which was this : ' And no other marriage parish were to make choice of some per- 
whatsoever . . . after the 29th Sept., son, approved by a juftice of the peace, 
1653, shall be accounted a marriage who should be called the < Parish Regifter.' 
according to the laws of England.' The Sometimes this person was the minifter, 
Act provided that persons intending to be sometimes he was a layman. The Re- 
married should either give notice as the gifter at Wickham, at this date, was a 
entry exemplifies, or in the market place layman, Roger Hurrell. This better 
three several market days ; and upon the provision for the regiftry, during the 
regifter making certificate that notice had Commonwealth, explains the reason why 
been given, the marriage should take so many parish regifters have so few, and 
place before 'some Juftice of Peace some of them no entries at all, at that 
of the county.' The same Act also date. Scobell ii. 388 — 236. 
provided (for the first time) for the 



518 yohn Ludgater. 

but such schismaticks as the inhabitants procure, and that the 
neighbouring churches are almost deprived of their flocks, 
who every day goe to Wickham, as to a place of Noncon- 
formity.' Whether the request was complied with or not does 
not appear. 

Witham.— ~John Ludgater. The vicarage had been se- 
questered from Francis Wright (p. 218), 'for that he hath 
tempted .... and is a common haunter of ale-houses and 
taverns ; and a common drunkard and prophaner of the worfhip 
of God, by publike performing of the same in his drunken- 
nesse ; and a common swearer, and common user of corrupt 
communication ; and hath not officiated in the said cure for 
the space of twelve months last past before the sequestration.' 
The order for the sequeftration was passed in the House of 
Commons, 6th April, 1643, and, as usual, sent up to the 
House of Lords for confirmation in a day or two afterwards. 
On the 28th, the Lords ordered, c That Wright should appear 
before them on ' Thursday next, at ten of the clock in the 
morning,' and that the witnesses should also be forthcoming 
at the same time. On the 1st of May, affidavit having been 
made of the service of the order on Wright, and Wright not 
appearing, the Lords proceeded to the examination of the 
witnesses in his absence ; and, on the 4th, ' upon consideration 
of the whole case,' the 'House adjudged, 1. That Francis 
Wright shall be presently sequeftered from the profits of the 

living of Witham, and from officiating there. 2. 

That Mr. Edmund Brewer shall officiate there. 3. That he 
shall be committed to the Fleete, there to remain during the 
pleasure of this House ; and ordered that the gentleman ufher 
shall attach the body of Francis Wright, and bring him before 
this House.' The sequeftration re-appears in the minutes of 
the Committee for Plundered Minifters, November 17, 1645, 
when an order was issued that the living should be sequeftered 
from Edmund Brewer, who is now vicar of Castle Hedingham, 
to the use of Richard Rowles, minifter of the word. How 
long Rowles retained his post I have not been able to ascer- 
tain, but he was still there in 1650, at which date he is 



With am. 519 

reported in the Parliamentary return as, c an able, godly- 
preacher.' 

We first meet v/ith Ludgater at Great Birch. This living 
also had been sequeftered ; it was from William Collingwood, 
but under what circumftances does not appear. The present 
rector of Birch, the Rev. W. Harrison, obliges me with the 
following from the parish regifter, in Ludgater's own hand- 
writing : c The register booke kept by John Ludgater, rector 
of Much Birch, from the time of his entrance there, May 
2ith (sic), being Whit Sunday, Anno Domini, 1643.' From 
the minutes of the committee above mentioned, it appears 
that in May, 1646, Ludgater was involved in a dispute with 
Mr. Collingwood about his tithes, which, on the 2nd of July 
following, was committed for decision to the county committee. 
He was one of the ' Classis,' as of Birch, in 1647. ^ e was 
still there in 1650, as appears from the Parliamentary return 
of that date. Walker says that John Davis was appointed 
to Birch in 1654, but I can find no traces of him. Colling- 
wood recovered his living in 1660, and on the 26th of August, 
in that year, he was collated to the prebend of Holywell, in 
the cathedral of St. Paul's. The Rev. W. Harrison also 
informs me that the curate of Birch, in 1664, was Nathaniel 
Bugg, which would suggest the queftion whether he was not 
ejected at Great Horksley. Newcourt's entry of Robert 
Harrison, in 1683, would well consist with the reftoration of 
Thomas Eyre, in 1660; and Bugg by this time may have 
conformed. April 2, 1672, license was granted to Zachary 
Seaman's house, in Birch Magna, to be a ' place of meeting 
of the Prefbyterian way ;' and on the same day, John Argor, 
then of Copford, took out a license to be a preacher in that 
house. 

I am indebted to the courtesy of the Rev. J. Bramston, the 
present vicar of Witham, for the information, that the only 
traces of Ludgater in the documents of that parish occur in a 
list of c old papers supposed to be contained in the parish 
chest,' but which he subsequently discovered were not to be 
found there. These are as follows : ' Brief for counsel, 



520 John Ludgater. 

Ludgater v. Wright. Petition of John Ludgater, vicar, and 
churchwardens, .to Lords Commiffioners of Great Seal, con- 
cerning property, 1656.' Walker says of Wright, c I believe 
he outlived the usurpation, and was repossessed of his living, 
to the dishonour of the church, in all probability unless his 
afflictions had bettered him.' His reftoration to the vicarage 
is at least consilient with the transcript of the regifter of the 
diocese, publifhed by Newcourt, according to which the next 
entry after Fra. Wright is, c John Harper, 24th December, 
1682.' It is therefore probable that Ludgater was ejected 
under the act of 1660. I have not been able to trace Ludgater 
after his ejectment."* 

On the declaration of indulgence, besides George Lifte 
there was another minifter licensed to be a Prefbyterian 
teacher at Witham, Edmund Taylor, whose license, and the 
license for whose house to be a Prefbyterian meeting place, 
bear date 27th May, 1672. Palmer says of this Edmund 
Taylor : c He preached in several places. He was imprisoned 
in Tilbury Fort, in the Duke of Monmouth's time, and died 
at Witham. Perhaps he was the same person mentioned in 
Monmouthfhire (Littleton).' There was also a third house 
licensed on the 12th of June following, ' the house of 
Elizabeth Trew, also to be a Prefbyterian meeting place.' 

The present meeting house was built in 17 15, when the 
minifter appears to have been John Watson. In 17 16 the 
congregation is returned as containing three hundred and twenty 
hearers, of whom twenty-three had votes for the county, two 
had votes for Maldon, and six are described as 'gentlemen.' 
Watson was succeeded by Dr. Lobb ; Lobb by John Parsons, 
in 1755; Parsons by John Burnett, in 1762; Burnett by 
Charles Case, in 1767; Case by Samuel Newton, in 1786; 
Newton by William Wright, in 1823; Wright by Richard 
Robinson, in 1825 ; Robinson by the Rev. John Gill, in 1849 > 
Gill by the Rev. John Hill, 1854; and Hill by the present 
paftor, the Rev. John Dewsnap. f 

* Cal. Ace. 3125 Cont. 4905 License f Church Books. Lobb was buried in 

Book, S. P. O., see ante p. 355. Bunhill Fields. Jones, Bunhill Memo- 



Robert Chads ley. 521 

Little Yeldham. — Robert Chadsley. He is called by 
both Calamy and Palmer, Chadsey ; his own signature is 
Chadsley. Calamy also gives his Chriftian name as John, but 
Palmer, correctly, as Robert. He was first settled at Falkborne, 
the rectory of which parish had been sequeftered from Edward 
Strutt. Depositions were taken against Strutt 15th July, 
1644, when two witnesses gave evidence, that c he said, at Sir 
Edward Bullock's house, that what the Parliament doe they 
doe it without law, for they have no law for what they doe ;' 
one, that c he said that if he did not part with his money to the 
Parliament it would have been better than it is;' one, that he 
said c that now there was noe Parliament, and that they are as 
a body without a head now that the King is away, and that 
they were guilty of treason ; ' one, that ' he dissuaded his 
parifhioners, as for example Sir Edward Bullock, from taking 
the covenant, telling him that Dr. Gawden, Mr. Collins, of 
Braintree \ Mr. Fuller, of Stebbing ; and others, did not take it ;' 
one, that c he did not preach more than once a Sabbath for 
several years, nor till about a quarter of a year back ; ' three, 
that they c heard him swear several times, even on the Sabbath, 
because his dog was killed ; ' two, that c when Mr. Wright, 
late vicar of Witham, was called in queftion before Parliament 
for his profane and wicked courses, they having conference 
with Mr. Strutt about the same, he said to them that the 
Parliament could not by law take away his living ; ' and one, 
that ' Mr. Strutt hath for many years frequented the house 
and company of Mr. Leventhorpe, who is a known papist.' 
Sequeftrators were then, nominated, Mr. Bartholomew Wall 
and Goodman Thomas Herridge. Additional depositions were 
taken against him on the 9th of October following, when 
one witness gave evidence, that c he was a common swearer.' 
Chadsley was now put into the living by the committee. I have 
obtained the following extracts from the parish regilter : 
' Robert Chadsley, minister of Faulkborne, October ye 13, 

rials, 156. He publifhed 'Letters on See his ' Memoirs, or the Power of Faith 
the Sacred Predictions for reading the and Godliness exemplified, ' by John 
Scriptures on Lord's days.' 8vo. 1761. Greene. Chelmsf, 1767, i2mo., p. 450. 



522 Falkborne, Teldham. 

Anno 1645. Theodore Chadsley, ye Sonne of Robert Chads- 
ley, and Elizabeth, his wife, was baptized ye 22nd of August, 
1645, being borne ye eleventh day of August, 1645, being 
Monday, about ten or eleven of ye clock in ye evening. 
Hellen Finch, &c, &c, buried; Thomas Finch, &c, &c.,- 
buried; Elizabeth Chadsley, borne &c, &c, baptized &c, &c. 
Edward Strutt, the sequeftered rector, was buried at Faulkborne, 
November 19, 1646/ The living now reverting to the patron, 
Chadsley left; and was succeeded by Richard Strutt, of whom 
there is the following entry in the Journals of the House of 
Commons : c Ordered, that Mr. Dr. Aylett, or his lawful 

deputy, are hereby authorized and required to give, &c 

unto Richard Strutt, clerk, M.A., to the rectory of Falkborne, 
.... void by death of Edward Strutt, late incumbent .... 
producing his presentation thereunto .... under the hand 
and seal of John White, gent., the lawful patron.' Richard 
Strutt is returned in 1650 as, c a godly and able minifter.' 

Chadsley now removed to Yeldham. There had been a 
sequeftration here also. The sequeflered minifler was William 
Evett, who was admitted, at Yeldham Parva, according to 
Newcourt, February 20, 1642. Depositions were taken 
against 'Evet, pretended parson of Yeldham Magna (sic),' 
April 9, 1644. The case is thus recorded in the minute book, 
as copied by Mr. Cole, MSS. vol. xxviii. p. 22 : c 1. Notwith- 
standing his pretended presentation to the rectory of Yeldham 
Magna, he hath never, even by proxy, officiated there. Hence 
for the last twelve months the parifhioners have been wholly 
deftitute of spiritual means, except what they provide them- 
selves, 2. By letter under his hand, of 29th August, 1643, ne 
contemned the power of Parliament, threatening his parifhioners 
for their obedience thereto, because of the King's proclamation.' 
Mr. Cole adds, in a subsequent page, that the ' depositions were 
taken at Halfted; that the committee were John Barnardifton, 
Sir Thomas Honey wood, Richard Harlackenden, Isaac Wincoll, 
and John Ellifton;' and that 'the parifhioners desired Mr. 
Benton may be their minifler.' It is clear that the reference is 
to Little Yeldham, not only from the entry in Newcourt, but 



Robert Chads ley. 523 

also from evidence kindly supplied by the Rev. J. M. Cripps, 
the present rector of Great Yeldham, that Richard Mosely was 
the rector of that parish, without interruption, from 1629 to 
1660. 

Chadsley subscribed the 'Essex Teftimony,' as minifler of 
Yeldham, in 1648, and the 'Essex Watchword' in 1649; and 
in 1650 he is returned thus: 'conceived to be an able minifter.' 
There are no traces of him in any of the parish documents at 
Yeldham. 'He was very poor, but remarkably provided for 
till he was taken hence by death.' * 



took out two licenses, Sept. 5, 1672, one 
ii. 328; Strutt, Cole xxviii. 37 — 39. for his house at Ham to be a ' Presb. M. 
Sir Ed. Bullock was of Falkborne Hall. H.,' and another for himself to be a 
Jeremy Benton was afterwards of Finch- 4 Presb. teacher' there. L. Book, S. P. 
ingfield, where he signed the < EfTex O., ante p. 340. 
TenV in 1648. A Benjamin Benton 



CHAPTER II. 

MINISTERS FORMERLY SETTLED IN ESSEX, 
WHO WERE EJECTED IN OTHER COUNTIES. 



Samuel Austin. Ejected from the vicarage of Mehenniot, 
in the county of Cornwall. He signed the ' Essex Teftimony,' 
as minifter of Romford, in 1648. After his ejectment he lived 
at Plymouth.* 

Robert Adklns. Ejected from St. John's, Exeter. He 
was born at Chard, in 1626, and was originally designed for 
business, but his father finding that his heart was set upon the 
miniftry, he was sent to Oxford. Adkins was entered at 
Wadham College, of which he ultimately became fellow. 
After remaining twelve years at the University, the Protector, 
Oliver, appointed him one of his chaplains. He soon left this 
post however, Calamy says, c by reason of the insolency of 
the sectaries,' and settled at Theydon, as the successor of John 
Feriby and the predecessor of Francis Chandler. From the 
regifter, as I infer from extracts kindly made for me by the 
present rector of that parish, it appears that his miniftry here 
extended from 1652-3 to 1657. Calamy says, 'he found the 
place overrun with sects, but his solid doctrine, joyned with a 
free and obliging conversation, so convinced and gained them, 
that after a while he had not one dissenter left in his parish.' 
He was compelled to leave Theydon because of his health. 
At the inftance of Thomas Ford, then minifter of the cathedral 
of Exeter, and afterwards one of the sufferers from the Act of 
Uniformity, he now removed to that city. Here he first 
preached in the parish church of St. Sidwell, while the choir 

* Cal. Ace. 150. 



Robert Adkins. 525 

of the cathedral was being prepared for him. When the altera- 
tions were completed, the choir, commonly known as East 
Peter's Church, was capable of accommodating a vast congre- 
gation, which Adkins soon drew around him. He was 
generally considered one of the best preachers in the west of 
England. He was expelled from St. Peter's, it should appear, 
under the act of 1660, but was immediately chosen to St. 
John's, which was then vacant. While there, Calamy tells us, 
'that as he was preaching against the growing vices of that 
time, one of his hearers, a gentleman of great quality, stands 
up in the church, just before him, and stares him in the face : 
but he, knowing on whose errand he came, proceeded with his 
discourse, not fearing the frowns of the greatest. The very 
next morning his clerk brings him a libel, full of reflections on 
that and other gentlemen, which he found affixed to the church 
door. He reads it, leaves it in his study, and goes out into the 
country. He was no sooner gone but a messenger is sent after 
him with an order for him to appear immediately before several 
juftices of the peace in Exeter. He appears, is charged with 
this libel, professes his innocence, is menaced, and without any 
proof committed to prison. But Bifhop Gawden procured him 
his liberty.' 

Adkins was ejected from St. John's by the Act of Unifor- 
mity. In his farewell sermon, preached August 17, 1662, 
he said to his flock : c Let him never be accounted a sound 
Chriftian that doth not fear God and honour the King. I 
beg that you would not suffer our nonconformity, for which 
we patiently bear the loss of our places, to be an act of un- 
peaceableness and disloyalty. We will do anything for his 
Majefty but sin. We will hazard anything for him but our 
souls. We hope we could die for him, only we dare not 
be damned for him. We make no queftion, however we 
may be accounted of here, we shall be found loyal and 
obedient subjects at our appearance before God's tribunal.' 
Calamy says, ' great offers were made him if he would but 
conform, but he was faithful to his conscience to the last.' 
He continued to reside and to preach in Exeter after his eject- 



526 Robert Adkins, Paul Amarott. 

ment. c Some of the magiftrates, who were very severe against 
other difTenting minifters, yet favoured and connived at him.' 
Three meetings were difturbed in his house, c the names of 
many taken, yet neither he nor the house were fined. One 
mayor and juftice, who were far more busy than their brethren, 
fined his house twenty pounds, though the people were not' 
found in his, but in a neighbour's, house. Hereupon they came 
and broke up his door to diftrain for the fine, but finding his 
goods and best books removed, they seized on him, who was 
very ill of the gout, brought him down from his warm chamber, 
in a chair, into his court ; exposed him some hours to the cold 
air ... . and made his c mittimus ' to send him to prison 
for this fine. Of all the great multitude that were gathered 
about his house upon this occasion, the mayor and juftice could 
not, either by promises or threats, get any to carry him to 
prison. At length some of his friends paid his fine. The 
rest of the chamber utterly disliked this severity. Once he 
was taken at another house, where he was to have preached. 
The mayor excused himself, telling him that he thought he 
had been another person, and disniifled him on his promise 
to appear the next day at the Guildhall, if sent for ; he was 
not sent for, neither did he hear any more of the matter. One 
of his hearers was prosecuted in the Spiritual Court for having 
his child baptized by a nonconformist. When Dr. Lamplugh, 
late (17 13) archbifhop of York, then bifhop of Exeter, under- 
stood that Mr. Adkins had baptized it, he put a stop to the 
proceedings of the court, dismifTed the man without paying 
any costs, and spoke very honourably of Mr. Adkins, for his 
learning and moderation.' 

Adkins died March 28, 1685, at the age of fifty-nine. 
There are printed of his, 1. c The Sin and Danger of Popery, 
in six sermons.' Exon. 1712, 8vo. 2. 'His Farewell Sermon 
at St. John's/ Exon, 17 15, 8vo. * 

Paul Amarott, or Amyraut. Ejected from Munsley, in the 

* Cal. Ace. 214 — 218; Cont. 238; formerly of Booking, p. 194, et all 5 
I have given his name Adkins, as I find Feriby, p. 497 j Chandler p. 496. 
it in the regifter at Theydon. Gauden, 



Paul Amarott. 527 

county of Norfolk. We first meet with him at Ermington, 
in that county. He was an early sufferer for his noncon- 
formity. In 1636, he was cited before Wren, bifhop of 
Norwich, and suspended for not bowing at the name of Jesus. 
He was afterwards of Wolterton, also in the county of Norfolk, 
where he was deprived within two years after his suspension at 
Ermington, as appears from the following entry in the regifter 
of the diocese of Norwich, in the year 1638, with which I am 
favoured by my friend, the Rev. George Gould, who has 
obtained access to the original, through the courtesy of the 
present bifhop : c Decimo tertio die Julii Anno Domini pred. 
Thomas Wolsey Clicus in Artibus Mager Inftitutus fuit in 
Rectoriam pred p. deprivacoem Pauli Amarott Clici ult. in- 
cumbent.' It should appear that it was now that he settled in 
Essex, but where, I have not been able to ascertain. When 
c Captain Henrie Bell ' tranflated Martin Luther's ' Table 
Talk,' the House of Commons, hearing that he had been unable 
to procure a license to publish it from Laud, they sent for Bell, 
c and did appoint a committee to see it and the translation, and 
diligently to make enquirie whether the translation did agree 
with the original or no.' c Whereupon,' Bell continues, c they 
desired me to bring the same before them, sitting then in the 
treasurie chamber. And Sir Edward Dearing, being chairman, 
said unto mee, that he was acquainted with a learned minifter, 
beneficed in Essex, who had long lived in England, but was 
born in High Germanie, in the Palatinate, Mr. Paul Amiraut, 
whom the committee sending for, desired him to take both the 
original and my translation into his cuftodie, and diligently 
to compare them together, and to make report unto the said 
committee whether hee found that I had rightly and truly 
translated it according to the original ; which report he made 
accordingly.' The book was then licensed, and Amarott's 
report was prefixed to it. 

In 1648, Amarott had returned to Norfolk, and was vicar of 
East Dereham, which living, according to Walker, had been 
sequeftered from John Bretten. While there he publifhed a 
sermon entitled, ' The Triumph of a Good Conscience; on 



528 William Bridge. 

Rev. ii. io.' From thence he removed to Munsley, which 
rectory had been sequeftered from John Tenison, father of 
the archbifhop of that name. It should seem that Amarott 
was ejected under the act of 1660. * 

William Bridge. Ejected from the lecturefhip of Great 
Yarmouth. Bridge was born in Cambridgeshire, about 
1600. He was educated at Cambridge, where he took his 
master's degree in 1626. He also became fellow of Emmanuel 
College. While at the University he not unfrequently came 
to hear John Wilson, at Sudbury. In August, 1631, he was 
c presented,' by the corporation of Colchester, to stand for his 
1 choice ' as the c general lecturer of the toune.' This was on 
the retirement or suspension of Richard Maden. He soon 
involved himself in trouble however, as, in 1632, Richard 
Maden was appointed a second time. Calamy is miftaken in 
saying that he was a minifter in Essex for five years, unless 
indeed he had been settled here previoufly to his appointment 
to Colchester, of which I can find no evidence, as he was rector 
of St. George's Tombland, Norwich, in 1633. He was a ^ so 
rector of St. Peter's, Hungate. Here he was silenced by 
Wren, for nonconformity, in 1636 or 1637 ; and continued in 
the city until Wren also excommunicated him and issued a writ 
for his apprehenfion. He then fled to Holland, and settled down 
at Rotterdam, as pastor of the Congregational church, of which 
Jeremiah Burroughes was teacher. When Charles heard of 
his flight to Holland, by a letter which Laud wrote to him on 
the subject, he is said to have written in the margin of the 
letter, ' we are well rid of him.' He remained in Holland until 
the year 1642, when he returned into England and became 
town lecturer at Yarmouth. 

In that year a Congregational church was formed in that 
town, of which we have the following account in the church 
book : ' The urging of popish ceremonies, and divers innovated 

* Sir Ed. Deering's notes, 25th Nov., that pretious man of God, Dr. Martin 

1644. 'Proceedings principally in the Luther.' Lond., 1652. fol. Bell's Preface, 

county of Kent.' Camden Soc. 1862. Cal. Ace. 483 ; Cont. 630 ; Blomefield, 

' Colloquia 5 or, the Familiar Discourses of Hist. Norfolk hi. 330. 



William Bridge. 529 

injunctions in ye worfhip and service of God by Bpp. Wren 
and his inftruments, .... caused divers of ye godly .... 
to remove and to passe over into Holland, to enjoy ye liberty of 
their conscience in God's worfhip .... After they came 
into Holland divers joyned themselves to ye church in Rotter- 
dam .... Among whom were Mr. William Bridge and Mr. 
John Warde, who also were chosen officers of ye church there. 
But after ye glad tydings of a hopefull Parliament .... was 
reported to ye church divers .... whose heart God stirred 
up to further ye light .... after much advising with ye 
church, and seeking God for direction, .... returned .... 
into England, with resolution to gather into a church with all 
convenient speed, where God should please to direct them 

In ye meane time, Mr. John Warde being called 

to Colchefter, did there, with others, gather into church fellow- 
fhip and there continued. After many meetings of ye brethren 
to seeke God, and advise together about in-churching them- 
selves, .... divers yt they might be in readynes for it . . . . 
sent over to ye church at Rotterdam for their assent.' Then 
follows a copy of the dismissal of thirty persons from the church 
in Holland, c yt they may incorporate themselves into a church 
in Norwich or elsewhere.' Negotiations were now opened 
with Bridge to become their paftor, and in the meanwhile it 
was decided, ' that Yarmouth was safer in regard of ye dangerous 
times for ye present, and therefore thought fitt ye church 
should reside there untill it should further appeare where most 
libertie and opertunity should concurre.' Bridge accepted the 
office of paftor September 9, 1643, and c ye next day, . . . after 
they had blessed God for his great love and gratious presence 
hitherto, and seeking his face for further assiftance, hee was 
by the church ordayned into ye paftor's office ; and in ye latter 
part of the day, being ye Lord's day, the church did com- 
fortably partake in both the sacraments, ye children of some 
of the members, and members' children of other churches, 
baptized.' 

The year that Bridge returned to England a treatise was 
publifhed by Henry Feme, then archdeacon of Leicefter, 

o o 



\ 



530 William Bridge. 

entituled, 'The resolving of Conscience upon this queftion, 
'Whether upon such a supposition or case, as is now usually 
made, subjects may take arms and resist? &c,' Camb., 4to., 
which was reprinted, in 1643, at Oxford. Bridge took upon 
him to reply to this treatise, in c The Wounded Conscience 
Cured, &c. ;' and on Feme's reply, in c Conscience Satisfied,' 
Ox., 1643, Bridge rejoined, in the c Truth of the Times 
Vindicated.' 'These treatises from the pen of Bridge,' says 
Dr. Vaughan, c are interefting as disclosing the large and 
philosophical views concerning the nature of government en- 
tertained at that juncture by men of his class. The author 
cites largely from .... chancellor Fortescue, showing that 
the English monarchy, as a matter of law and hiftory, is a 
limited monarchy; demonstrating at the same time, from 
Scripture and from reason, that magiftracy is an ordinance of 
God, simply as magiftracy ; the form which the office shall 
assume, and the restrictions that shall be laid upon its action 

being left wholly with society ' ' The kingdom,' says 

Bridge, c is greater than the King, the governed are greater 
than the government, and the salvation of the greater is the 
supreme law to which the less everywhere must be subordinate. 
Jesuits suppose all ecclesiaftical power to be lodged in St. 
Peter, and to pass from him, not to the church, but to the 
pope and the bifhops ; and it is only consiftent in such 
reasoners to suppose that all civil power descends immediately 
to the King, and to the commonwealth only through him. 
But enlightened Proteftantism and sound reason know nothing 
of such servile dogmas. God at the first,' continues our sturdy 
Independent, ' by all we can learn from Scripture, was pleased 
.to appoint magiftracy itself, and left men free to set up that 
form of government which might best correspond with their 
condition, making the people the first subject and receptacle 
of civil power. Therefore, the prince, a supreme magiftrate, 
hath no more power than is communicated to him by the com- 
munity, because the effect cannot exceed the virtue of its 
cause. No community can give away from themselves the 
power of self-preservation. In case a prince shall neglect his 



John Br ins ley. 531 

trust, so as not to preserve them, but to expose them to 
violence, it is no usurpation in them to look to themselves, 
but an exercise of the power which was always their own.' 

Bridge was one of the Assembly of Divines, where he soon 
took a diftinguifhed pofition as a leader of the dissenting party. 
His portrait is still preserved in, what is now, the Unitarian 
meeting house at Yarmouth. His works, which were collected 
and publifhed in three volumes, 4-to., in 1649, nave been 
reprinted in five volumes, 8vo. There is a monument in the 
parish church of St. Nicholas in memory of his widow, 
Elizabeth. She died in 1675, aged seventy-six."* 

John Brinsley. He was ejected from a lectureship at 
Great Yarmouth. Brinsley was a native of Ashby de la 
Zouch, in the county of Leicefter, and the son of a minister 
there of the same name. His mother was the sifter of 
Joseph Hall, the well-known bifhop of Norwich. He was 
educated first at the public school at Afhby, of which his 
father was then in charge, and afterwards at Emmanuel 
College, Cambridge, where he was entered before he was 
fourteen years of age. When about eighteen he accompanied 
his uncle, Hall, as his amanuensis to the synod of Dort. He 
returned to Emmanuel College, remained there until he had 
taken his degrees, was then ordained, and commenced his 
ministry, Calamy says, at ' Prefton, near Chelmsford.' In 
1626, he was chosen by the corporation of Yarmouth to be 
their minister, but the dean and chapter of Norwich, claiming 
the right of nomination, disputed the appointment, and in the 
issue, Brinsley was summoned before the High Court of 
Commifnon, at Lambeth, and suspended from his cure by an 
order from Laud. This was in 1627. He continued, how- 
ever, to preach in the town notwithstanding, in what was then 
the Dutch church. This building was afterwards converted 
into a theatre, and is now known as the Town House. The 

* Cal. Ace. 478; Colchefter Assembly Wood, Ath. ii. 2655 Vaughan, English 
Book ; Morant Col. 100. Blomefield, Hist. Nonconformity 160 ; Turner's Sepul- 
Norfolk iii. 743. 'Open Communion chral Reminiscences of the parish church 
and the Baptists of Norwich,' by the of St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, 10. 
Rev. Geo. Gould, cxlv. clii. Feme, 

2 



532 John Brinsley. 

corporation in the meanwhile persevered in their struggle with 
the bifhop and the court in his behalf, until at length, in 1632, 
the King in council forbad his officiating in Yarmouth, and 
even committed to prison four persons who had interested 
themselves in the case, one of whom was Miles Corbet, then 
recorder of the town. In 1642 we find him at Lotheringland, 
and about the same time he obtained the cure of Somerleyton. 
Two years after this he was again chosen by the corporation of 
Yarmouth to be one of the town preachers, and is said to 
have occupied the chancel of the parish church, with the 
Prefbyterians, while Bridge occupied the north aisle, with the 
Congregationalifts, and the south aisle, together with the nave, 
was left to the regular incumbent. Service was performed 
simultaneously in all three parts of the church, the corporation 
having divided the building for that purpose. After his ejection 
from the lecturefhip, he continued to reside at Yarmouth 
until his death, which took place January 22, 1644, at the age 
of sixty-four. He was buried in the parish church. 

Brinsley was a considerable author. ' One and twenty 
treatises of his are collected in two volumes, 4to., 1657 ; 
besides which, and several sermons before the Parliament, he 
hath sundry tracts.' c Ten Sermons of God's return to the 
Soul;' c Ten Sermons on Christ and the Covenant;' 'Eight 
Sermons of Good and Bad Company ;' c Serviceable Truths 
in Evil Times ;' ' The Freeness of the Grace and Love of 
God to Believers;' 'The Sinfulness of Sin and the Fulness 
of Christ;' C A Word to the Aged;' c His Remains,' &c. ; 
also ' The Sovereign Church Remedy ; or, the Primitive 
Apoftolical way of composing Ecclesiaftical Differences. ' 
4to., 1645. He had a son, Robert, who was educated at 
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was ejected like his father 
by the Act of Uniformity. Robert subsequently studied 
medicine, and graduated at Leyden. He then practised at 
Yarmouth, where he was elected co-chamberlain with Robert 
Barnard, in 1681, and was appointed water-bailiff in 1692.* 

* Cal. Ace. 477; Cont. 617. Turner, Church, Yarmouth. Preftons is in South 
Sepulchral Reminiscences of St. Nicholas' Hanningfield. Mor. ii. 39. 



Edmund Calamy, senior. 533 

Edmund Calamy, senior. Ejected from Aldermanbury, 
London. He was the son of a London citizen, and born in 
that city in February, 1599-60. At the age of sixteen he 
was admitted of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. At the age of 
nineteen he took the degree of B.A. His Calviniftic ten- 
dencies prevented his promotion at Pembroke, but he succeeded 
at length in being elected ' Tanquam socius,' a position which 
is peculiar to that Hall. About this time he attracted the 
notice of Nicholas Felton, then bifhop of Ely, who made him 
his chaplain. While an inmate of the bifhop's house, he 
applied himself with great diligence to the study of theology. 
It is said that c he thus employed himself sixteen hours a day,' 
and that during his chaplaincy c he read over the controversies 
with Bellarmine entirely .... also many of the schoolmen, 
especially Thomas Aquinas, in whom he was most exactly 
versed;' and that 'he read St. Auguftine's works five times, 
and many other eminent authors, ancient and modern, besides 
his daily study of the holy scriptures, and perusal of com- 
mentators upon them.' He retained his chaplaincy until the 
death of Felton, in 1626. In the meanwhile he had been 
presented by the bifhop to the vicarage of St. Mary's, 
SwafFham, which was within reach of the bifhop's residence. 
He held that vicarage from 1625 to 1630. About 1630 he 
was one of the town lecturers of Bury St. Edmunds, when 
he resigned his vicarage and took up his abode at Bury.* 
During his lecturefhip he says, in his c Just and NecefTary 
Apology against an Unjust Invective,' which he wrote in reply 
to Henry Burton's ' Truth still Truth, though shut out of 
doors,' London, 1642, 4-to., that c he never bowed to or 
towards the altar, to or towards the east; never read that 
wicked Book of Sports upon the Lord's day ; never read 
prayers at the high altar, at the upper end of the church, 
where the people could not hear. I have often,' he continues, 
'preached against innovations, and once I did at a public visita- 
tion, and was called in question for my labour. I never 
justified the oath ' ex-officio,' nor ever prevented any man or 

* Davy MSS. B. M. xxxii. 236, 237. 



534 Edmund Calamy, senior. 

woman at the high communion. I never, to the best of my 
remembrance, preached at any time for the justification of any 
innovations.' This testimony is worthy of notice, as under 
the leaderfhip of such writers as Walker and Wood it is not 
uncommon to brand him as a c turn coat.' * 

When Wren publifhed his celebrated Articles in 1636, 
Calamy and his diocesan soon came into open collifion, and as 
the result, he was compelled to flee the diocese. William 
Fenner, rector of Rochford, dying in 1639, the living was 
vacant, f It was in the gift of Robert, Earl of Warwick, and 
he beftowed it on Calamy. He did not remain there long, 
however, certainly not many months, as in the vestry book of 
St. Mary, Aldermanbury, London, there is the following entry, 
under date May 27, 1639 : c The late election of our minifter, 
Mr. Edward Calamy, was confirmed by a general consent, and 
ordered that he shall have for his maintenance ^160 per ann. 
.... And it was propounded whether every man would give 
the same rate which they formerly gave to Dr. Stoughton, and 
it was consented to without contradiction. And Mr. Calamy 

to come to us at Midsummer next, or presently after ' J 

His admission to Aldermanbury is dated, in Newcourt, 26th 
October, 1639. In the July previous to his settlement in 
London he was incorporated D.D. at Oxford. In 1640 ap- 
peared the famous c Answer to an Humble Remonstrance,' of 
which I have already spoken. || In 1641 Calamy was appointed 
by the House of Lords one of the sub-committee for religion, 
of which Laud had this entry in his diary : c This committee 
will meddle with doctrine as with ceremonies, and will call 
wise divines to them to consider of the bufiness. I believe 
this committee will prove the national synod of England, to 
the great dishonour of the church. And what may follow it 
God knows.' This committee aiTembled in the Jerusalem 
Chamber, with 'several bifhops and doctors, in order to the 
accommodating ecclefiastical matters. In which meeting, by 
mutual conceflions,' says the grandson of Calamy, ' things were 

* Ex-Officio Oath, ante pp. 77, 181. J Malcolm, Lond. Red. 

\ Ante p. 170. j| Smectymnus, p. 197. 



Edmund Calamy, senior* 535 

brought into a very hopeful posture : but the whole design was 
spoiled by the bringing into the House of the bill against 
bifhops, &c.' In 1643, Calamy was one of those who were 
nominated for the Assembly of Divines, and when that assem- 
bly was convened he was one of its most active members. 

Calamy was a rigid Presbyterian, and had little sympathy 
with the so-called c sectaries,' among them the c Independents.' 
From his position, his character, his learning, and his abilities, 
his influence was very great, especially in the city. When 
the civil war had fairly broken out, and the Parliament men 
were negotiating with the Scots, he attended a meeting in the 
Guildhall, when he delivered a memorable speech, in the course 
of which he says : c The truth is, that it is a great shame that 
England should stand in need of another nation to help it to 
preserve its religion and liberties, .... that England should 
stand in need of the help of their brethren of Scotland for to 
preserve that gospel that they have professed so many years. I 
confess to me it doth seem a very strange prodigy and a strange 
wonder ; but it hath pleased Almighty God for the sins of 
England .... to suffer a great part of the kingdom to be 
blinded, .... and there are many . . , . that will not be 
persuaded that there is an intention to bring in popery and to 
bring in slavery. Many of them, I say, think that though the 
popish army should prevail, and the plundering army should 
prevail, yet ... . all would go well .... and this is the 
reason that (they) stand neuters, and that so many are malignant 
and disafFected to this great cause, that there is little probability 
to finish this cause without the army of the Scots.' 

Calamy frequently preached before the Parliament. Three 
of his sermons were publifhed, 1. 'England's Looking Glass,' 
on Jer. xviii. 7, 8, 9, 10, preached on a solemn fast, December 
22, 1641. Lond., 4to. 2. 'God's Free Mercy to England,' 
on Ezek. xxxvi. 32, preached at a fast, February 23, 1643. 
Lond., 4to. 3. 'England's Antidote against the Plague of 
Civil War,' on Acts xvii. 30, preached October 22, 1644. 
There are two others attributed to him by Wood, but these are 
the only three acknowledged by his grandson. He was strongly 



1 



536 Edmund Calamy, senior. 

opposed to any violent measures against the King, and was one 
of the originators of the petition to Cromwell on that subject. 
During the Protectorate he took little or no part in public 
affairs. When the Provincial Assembly of London issued 
their 'Jus. Divinum Minifterii Evangelici/ in 1653, special 
thanks were awarded to him, in conjunction with Gataker and 
Cranford, for 'their great paines in the work.' After the death 
of the Protector, Calamy was one of the first to prevail with 
Monk for the reftoration of Charles. He was also one of the 
divines who visited the King in Holland. After the reftoration 
he was made one of the King's chaplains, and was offered a 
bifhopric. It is said that on the treachery of Monk becoming 
patent, that general being among the hearers one Lord's day at 
Aldermanbury, and Calamy having occasion to speak of filthy 
lucre, said, ' some men will betray three kingdoms for filthy 
lucre's sake, and threw his handkerchief towards the general's 
pew.' When the Act of Uniformity had passed, he refused to 
subscribe, and preached his farewell sermon on the 17th of 
August, on 2 Sam. xxiv. 14. He united with several of the 
London minifters, who had also refused the declaration required 
by the act, in a petition to the King, in which they say, ' Upon 
former experience of your Majefty's tenderness and indulgence, 
.... we, some of the minifters within your city of London, 
who are likely by the late Act of Uniformity to be cast out of 
all publick service in the miniftry, because we cannot in con- 
science conform, .... have taken the boldness humbly to 
cast ourselves at your Majefty's feet, (that) you would take 
some effectual course whereby we may be continued in the 
exercise of our miniftry to teach your people obedience to God 
and your Majefty. And we doubt not but .... we shall 
render ourselves not altogether unworthy of so great a favor.' 
This petition was presented by Calamy in person, accompanied 
by Manton, Bates, and others, August 27. 'The very next 
day,' says his grandson, 'the matter was fully debated in 
council, his Majesty himself being present, who was pleased to 
declare that he intended an indulgence if it were at all possible. 
The great friends of the silenced minifters, who had encouraged 



Edmund Calamy^ senior. 537 

their hopes by a variety of specious promises, were allowed 
.... freely to suggest their reasons against putting the act in 
execution .... but Sheldon, in a warm speech, declared that 
it was now too late to think of suspending that law, for that he 
had already, in obedience to it, ejected such of his clergy as 
would not comply with it on the Sunday before, and should 
they now be reftored, after they were thus exasperated, he must 
expect to feel the effects of their resentment, and should never 
be able to maintain his episcopal authority among such a clergy, 
who would not fail to insult him as their enemy, being coun- 
tenanced by the court.' On this it was resolved that no 
indulgence should be granted, and the petition was dismissed. 

On the 20th of December following, Calamy, going to 
Aldermanbury as a hearer, and finding that the minister who 
was expected to officiate did not appear, was prevailed upon to 
occupy the pulpit. As might have been expected, this soon 
reached the ears of Sheldon, who was anything but slow to 
take action upon it. On the 5th of January a warrant was 
procured for the committal of the offender to Newgate. Ca- 
lamy, hearing of this, immediately waited on the bifhop and 
obtained a respite until the next day. On the 6th he gave 
himself up to the city marshals, and was taken by them to 
prison. While in prison there was so great a resort of persons 
of influence to him, to express their sympathy, that it was 
evident this step was not unlikely to entail unpleasant con- 
sequences. Charles, therefore, interfered, and after a few days 
Calamy was released. Wyld, the ejected of Aynhoe, has a 
poem addressed to his friend on the subject of this procedure 
on the part of Sheldon, in which he has the following lines : — 

* Shame and disgrace 
Rise only from the crime, not from the place, 
Who thinks reproach or injury is done 
By an eclipse to the unspotted sun ? 
He only, by that black upon his brow, 
Allures spectators, and so do you. 
Let me find honey, tho' upon a rod, 
And prize the prison when the keeper's God. 
Newgate or Hell were Heaven if Christ were there, 
He made the stable so, and sepulchre.' 



538 Edmund Calamy^ senior ; Solomon Carswill. 

But the affair did not end here. On the assembling of 
Parliament, on the 18th of February, a complaint was made 
in the House of Lords that Calamy's release was not owing 
to the exercise of the prerogative, but to a deficiency in the 
act, which did not allow of his detention in prison. On the 
19th, a committee was therefore appointed to enquire into the 
subject. That committee reported, on the 9th of March, that 
the complaint was not well founded; on which the House 
expressed its satisfaction. 

Calamy lived to see London in afhes, 'the sight of which 
broke his heart.' He was driven through the ruins in a coach, 
and seeing the desolate condition of so flourifhing a city, for 
which he had a great affection, his tender spirit received such 
impreflions as he could never wear off. He went home, and 
never came out of his chamber more.' He died October 29, 
1666. Besides the publications already mentioned, Calamy 
was the author of, 1. 'The great danger of Covenant-breaking ; 
a sermon preached before the lord mayor, &c, of London, on 
2 Tim. iii. 3.' Lond., 1646, 4-to. 2. 'The Monfler of 
Self-seeking Anatomized ; a sermon at St. Giles' morning 
exercises, on Acts xxvi. 8.' 3. ' Funeral Sermons \ on the death 
of Samuel Bolton; Robert, Earl of Warwick, who was a 
hearer of his at Aldermanbury ; and Simeon Afhe.' 4. 'The 
City Remembrancer \ a sermon to the native citizens of 
London.' 5. 'A Farewell Sermon to his Parifhi oners, August 
17, 1662.' 6. Five Sermons, entitled, the ' Godly Man's 
Ark ; or a City of Refuge in the day of his Diftress,' 8th ed., 
Lond., 1683, i2mo. * 

Solomon Carswill. He was ejected from St. Germain's, in 
Cornwall. He was a west-country man, and had the rectory 
of Woodham Ferrars sequeftered to him from William Clutter- 
buck, but at what date I have not been able to ascertain. He 

* Cal. Ace. 4; Cont. 75 Biog. Brit. been rector of Great Eafton, where he 

ed. Kippis, art. Calamy. Mercurius Pub. was admitted Oct. 23, 1616. He was 

Jan. I — 8, 1662. Wyld's Poem. Broad- consecrated Bimop of Bristol, Dec. 14, 

sheet in the Luttrell Coll. B. M. Jour. 1 617, and was tranflated to Ely in March, 

H. of Lords viii. 437, 446. Felton had 1618. N. i. 136. 



Richard Cleyton. 539 

had left EfTex by May 2, 1646, and returned to his native 
county. After his ejectment he preached in his own house, 
until about a fortnight before his decease. He lived to the age 
of about eighty-nine."* 

Richard Cleyton. He was ejected from Seighford, in the 
county of Stafford. He was settled at Great Eafton, which 
living had been sequeftered from John Browning, of whom 
Walker says, that ' he was also rector of Hornchurch, and that 
he was presented to that living by Lord Maynard.' But 
Hornchurch was, and still is, in the gift of New College, 
Oxford ; neither is it a rectory, but a vicarage ; and from a list 
of the incumbents from 1632 to 1662, obligingly sent me 
by the Rev. J. E. Sewell, D.D., the present warden of New 
College, Walker's miftake is evident. Browning was pre- 
sented to the rectory of Great Eafton by Lord Maynard, in 
1639. He had previously been rector of Little Eafton, where 
also he had been presented by Lord Maynard, in 1634, and 
was then rector of Rawreth. Little Eafton he appears to 
have resigned when he became rector of the neighbouring 
parish. 

I find no evidence of Browning's sequeftration at Rawreth. 
In the Journal of the House of Lords, under date 14th Novem- 
ber, 1648, there is entry of an order for the induction of John 
Man to the rectory of that parish, which was then ' void by 
death.' The Rev. J. C. White informs me, from the parish 
regifter, that this was about two months after the death of 
Browning, and that Man was presented to the living by 
c William Andrewes, the lawful and undoubted heir of 
Lancelot Andrewes, patron of the rectory.' Man subscribed 
the c EiTex Teftimony' in 1648. The return for Rawreth in 
1650 is, c ;£ioo payed out of it for a pension, Mr. John Man, 
a godly and painful minifter.' Man conformed in 1662, and 
died, according to Newcourt, before nth March, 1666. It 
is clear that Browning was sequeftered at Great Easton, but 
for what reason I have not been able to ascertain. It is 

* Cal. Ace. 150, see Theydon, Francis Chandler, ante 496. 



540 Richard Cleyton. 

probable, however, that Browning being a pluralist, he was 
deprived of Easton on that account, but still allowed to retain 
Rawreth. * 

It appears from the minutes of the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters that Cleyton was already at Easton in February, 1644. 
Calamy says, 'I am told he was M.A., if not B.D.' He was 
one of the 'Classis,' and subscribed to the 'Essex Teftimony' 
in 1648. He must now have left almost immediately, as 16th 
November, 1648, the House of Lords issued an order for the 
inftitution of Dr. Edward Rainbowe, clerk, to the rectory, as 
'void by death,' which avoidance would relate to Browning. 
On leaving Essex, Cleyton removed to Showel, near Lutter- 
worth, in Leicefterfhire, and while there he was elected and sat 
as a member of the Assembly of Divines. It was from Showel 
that he removed to Seighford. After his ejectment, he ulti- 
mately removed to Nuneaton, in Warwickfhire. 'Dr. Wild 
being there at the same time, there was such an intimacy and 
friendihip between these two, that they were to each other as 
David and Jonathan. Mr. Cleyton was a good scholar, a 
sound divine, and one of strict piety. He was very courteous 
and obliging in his temper and carriage, and, at the same time, 
very sedate and grave, but not morose. His whole life adorned 
religion and his sacred character. He was that perfect and 
upright man whose end is said to be peace.' Cleyton was 
buried at Nuneaton in August, 167 1. f 

Edward Rainbowe, who succeeded Cleyton at Eafton, was a 
Lincolnfhire man. He was educated at Oxford, where he 
became fellow and tutor of Corpus Chrifti. In 1639 he became 
incumbent of Childerely, in Cambridgefhire. In 1642 he was 
mafter of his college, and continued in that post during the 
civil war, notwithstanding that he refused the covenant. Wood 
says that he lost his mafterfhip for refusing the engagement in 
1650 ; but if that be so, he must have been mafter at the time 
of his appointment to Eafton. He afterwards, though at what 

* Ante pp. 152, 159, 246. Add. MSS. 15669, Feb. 13, March 20, 

f Cal. Cont. 784; Walker ii. 2005 1644. Man, ante pp. 270, 380 j Wyld, 
Lands. MSS. 459; N. ii. 236, 234, ante p. 537. 



jfohn Fuller , Henry Goody ere. 541 

date does not appear, became the incumbent of one of the 
Chefterfords ; and, in the beginning of 1659, he removed to 
the rectory of Benefield, in Northamptonfhire, 'which/ Wood 
tells us, 'though of considerable value, yet by the favor of 
friends he did not undergo the examination of the tryers of that 
time, as he had not done for Chefterford.' At the restoration 
he recovered his masterfhip, was made chaplain to Charles II., 
and dean of Peterborough. In 1662 he was made vice- 
chancellor of Cambridge, and, in 1664, bifhop of Carlisle. 
Rainbowe died 26th March, 1684. On the removal of Rain- 
bowe, Thomas Leader, who was D.D., became rector of 
Easton. He is returned, in 1650, as 'an able preaching 
minister.' Leader conformed.* 

"John Fuller. He was ejected from the living of St. 
Martin's, Ironmonger Lane. I take him to be the person 
referred to in Aylett's report to Laud in 1632, as being then of 
Great Waltham, and, therefore, also to be the brother-in-law 
of George Bound, of Shenfield. In 1656, having then 
already removed to London, he wrote a commendatory preface 
to John Bedle's ' Journal of a Thankful Chriftian.' He also 
wrote a Latin epitaph and an English poem on the death of 
Jeremiah Whitaker, and another poem on the death of Mr. 
Ralph Robinson. John was the father of Francis Fuller, who 
was ejected from the living of Warcup, in the county of 
Northampton, f 

Henry Goodyere. His name is otherwise given as Gooden 
and Goodene, the two last of which varieties might well arise 
from misreading his signature. He was ejected from the 
rectory of Hambledon, in the county of Bucks. He was 
appointed to the sequeftration of John Childerley, at Shenfield, 
by the House of Commons, April 15, 1643. The entr 7 m the 
Journal is as follows : ' An ordinance sequeftering the rents of 
profits of the parsonage of Shenfield, in the county of Essex, 
whereof Dr. Childerley is rector, into the hands of divers 

* Wood, Ach. Ox. ii. 11675 Newc. f Ante p. 173, also p. 463 and p. 

ii. 236. 347j Cal. Ace. 36, 4975 Cont. 53, 

648 5 Whitaker, infra. 



54 2 Henry Goody ere, Richard Hutton. 

sequeftrators named in the said ordinance, to the use and for the 
benefit of Henry Goodyere, M.A., a learned and orthodox 
divine, who, at the defire of parifhioners, is thereby required 
.... to preach every Lord's day, and to officiate as rector, 
and to take care for the discharge of the cure of the said church 
and all the duties thereof, until both Houses shall take further 
order, was this day read, and, by vote upon the same, assented 
unto, and ordered to be sent unto the Lords for their concur- 
rance.' He was still at Shenfield in July, 1647. 

The rectory of Hambledon had also been sequeftered ; it was 
from George Roberts. Roberts had been a fellow of Trinity 
College, Oxford. He was sent for as a delinquent by the 
House of Commons in 1643, when he appears to have fled to 
the King at Oxford. He was one of between forty and fifty 
persons who were created D.D. of that University in that 
year. Walker says that Goodyere was ' an Independent,' and 
adds,, that he c never adminiftered the sacrament in that church 
during the whole time of his abode at Hambledon.' The first 
part of this statement we may accept, but the second we may 
well call in queftion. Roberts recovered his living at the 
restoration, so that Goodyere was ejected under the act of 1660. 
Roberts was also rewarded with the archdeaconry of Winches- 
ter, and died at Isleworth, in Middlesex, March, 1 660-1.* 

Richard Hutton. Ejected from Caldbeck, in the county 
of Weftmoreland. He was settled for a time at Brightlingsea, 
the vicarage of which parish had been sequeffered to his use 
from Robert Pettit, for ' several misdemeanours.' He was 
removed from Brightlingsea, by order of the Committee for 
Plundered Ministers, to Cumberland, before November 29, 
1645. At that date he was succeeded in the sequestration by 
George Wilkinson, c a godly and orthodox divine,' with whom 
Mrs. Pettit seems to have had some trouble about her fifths. 
The dispute was finally settled, January 22, 1647, by an order 
to Wilkinson to c pay her eight pounds yearly.' 

The Rev. James Thwaites, the present rector of Caldbeck, 

* Cal. Ace. 109; Cont. 146 ; Jour. H. of C. iii. 145 5 Walker ii. 339 5 
Wood, Fasti, ii. 30. 



William Jenkyn. 543 

kindly informs me that Hutton became rector there in 1657, 
and that the first register opens with entries relating to six 
children of his. * 

William Jenkyn. Ejected from Christ Church, London. 
Jenkyn was one of a wealthy Kentish family, which came into 
that county from the north of England in the reign of Henry 
VIII. His grandfather was a gentleman of considerable pro- 
perty, who resided at Folkestone. His father was the 
distinguifhed Puritan minister of the same name, who suc- 
ceeded John Wilson at Sudbury ; and his mother a daughter 
of Richard Rogers, of Wethersfield. William was their 
eldest child, and was born at Sudbury in the year 1612 ; and 
on the death of his father, which took place about the year 
161 8, he was removed to Folkestone, where he lived with his 
grandfather until he was nine years of age. His mother, who 
had now married a second time, then took him under her own 
care. He was sent to Cambridge at the age of fourteen, where 
he became a pupil of Anthony Burgess, who was afterwards 
ejected from Sutton Coldfield, in the county of Warwick. 
There he took his degrees with great honour, and, some time 
after he had taken that of M.A., he began to preach. His 
first settlement was as lecturer of St. Nicholas', in the city of 
London. From London he removed to Colchester, where he 
was admitted to the rectory of St. Leonard's, January 27, 
1640, on the presentation of Charles I. While at Colchester 
he married the daughter of Thomas Cawton, then vicar of 
Wivenhoe.f 

Jenkyn did not long remain, at Colchester. In February, 
1642, he became vicar of Christ Church. Some months after 
this he was also chosen lecturer at Biackfriars. On the over- 
throw of the monarchy he declared himself a Royalist, and, 
refufing to observe the c thanksgiving ' ordered by the Parlia- 
ment, his vicarage was sequestered. He now retired to 
Billericay, where he remained for about six months. On his 

* Palmer ii. 354; Add. MSS. 15669, cholson and Burn, Hist, of Westmoreland 
415, 15670, 106, 15671, 64, 8oj Ni- and Cumberland ii. 137. 

f Ante p. 315. 



544 William jfenkyn. 

return to London, Jenkyn unhappily allowed himself to be 
involved, with his father-in-law and others, in Love's plot. 
For this he was imprisoned, tried, and sentenced. On a 
petition, which was prepared by John Arthur, of Clapham, 
and which he and others of his friends prevailed upon him to 
sign, he was set at liberty. In the meanwhile, Christopher 
Feake, who was afterwards implicated with John Rogers, * 
and others, in a conspiracy against the government, had been 
appointed to the sequestration at Christ Church. His old 
friends, however, were still anxious to enjoy the ministry of 
Jenkyn, and, with the consent of Feake, they set up an early 
Lord's day morning lecture, and their old pastor was chosen 
to deliver it. Jenkyn also resumed his lecturefhip at Black- 
friars. On the death of Thomas Gouge, he was chosen 
pastor also of that church. Soon afterwards, Christ Church 
being vacant by the deprival of Feake, he was re-presented to 
the vicarage, resigned his charge at Blackfriars, and returned 
to his old parish. Here he laboured with indefatigable earnest- 
ness, and with great success, until the pafling of the Act of 
Uniformity. During this period c he was some years upon the 
names given to Christ in scripture, and preached over the 
epistle of Jude, which he afterwards printed.' He was suc- 
ceeded at Christ Church by Richard Henchman, nephew of 
Humphrey, bifhop of London, who, in the September, 1661, 
had been admitted to the vicarage of Chigwell. 

After his ejectment Jenkyn continued to reside in London, 
preaching as he had opportunity, until the passing of the con- 
venticle act. During this period he is returned as holding c a 
conventicle with others at Mr. Clayton's, in Woode Street, all 
day,' February 10, 1663; c at Mr. Angell's, in Newgate 
Markett,' March 5 ; and at the ' Rose and Crown, in Blowe 
Bladder Street/ March 29 ; and also as c having a publicke 
stocke for the incouragement of those minifters turned out in 
the citty and country.' f He afterwards retired to a house 
which he had at Longley, in Hertfordshire. While there he 

* Ante p. 272. tides, MSS. S. P. O. lxxi. 48 ; Letter of 

+ Ante p. 334; Account of Conven- an Informer, ib. lxvii. 54. 



William yenkyn. 545 

preached every Lord's day. On the Indulgence he returned to 
London, when he took out a license to c bee a teacher of the 
congregation allowed by us in a howse or chamber in Home 
Alley, in Aldersgate Street.' This was April 2, 1672. On 
the same day another license was granted, allowing the c howse 
or chamber to be a place of worihip for the use of such as do 
not conforme to the Church of England.' These two licenses 
are the first that appear in the 'Entry Book' among the MSS. 
in the State Paper Office. He soon gathered a large con- 
gregation, and shortly he and his flock ere&ed a meeting house 
in Jewin Street. About the same time he was chosen c lecturer 
at Pinner's Hall.' When the tide again turned, Jenkyn for a 
time escaped the persecution that arose, but it was only for a 
time. Calamy tells us that, on the 2nd of September, 1684, 
c being with three other ministers, Mr. (John ?) Reynolds (the 
ejected of Roughton, in Norfolk ?), Mr. John Flavel (the 
ejected of Townstal, Devon), and Mr. (Francis) Keeling 
(the ejected of Cockfhott Chapel, Shropfhire), spending the 
day in prayer with many of his friends, in a place where they 
thought themselves out of danger, the soldiers broke in upon 
them in the midst of the exercise. All the ministers made 
their escape except Mr. Jenkyn, who was carried before the 
aldermen .... who treated him very rudely, well knowing 
it would be acceptable above.' Jenkyn was now committed 
to prison. While there, his health beginning to fail, ' he 
petitioned the King for his release, his physicians maintaining 
his request by a certificate that his life was in danger, but in 
vain.' New severities awaited him. ' The keepers were 
ordered not to let him pray with any visitants; even when his 
own daughter came to ask his bleffing he was not allowed to 
pray with her.' Withal his heart was strong and his spirit 
happy. He said to one of his friends, c what a vast difference 
is there between this and my first imprisonment ! Then I was 
full of doubts and fears, of grief and anguish ; and well I 
might be, for going out of God's way and my calling to 
meddle with things that did not belong to me. But now, 
when I was found in the way of my duty, in my Matter's 

p P 



546 William Jenkyn^ John J oh 



nson. 



business, though I suffer even to bonds, yet am I comforted 

beyond measure And he turned to some that were 

weeping by him : ' Why weep ye for me,' says he, ' Christ 
lives, he is my friend, a friend born for adversity, a friend that 
never dies ; weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and 
your children.' ' 

Jenkyn died in Newgate, January 19, 1684-5. Palmer tells 
us that c a nobleman having heard of his happy release, said to 
the King, ' May it please your Majefty, Jenkyn has got his 
liberty :' upon which he asked with eagerness, c who gave it 
him ? ' The nobleman replied, c a greater than your Majefty, 
the King of Kings ;' with which the King seemed greatly 
struck, and remained silenced.' Jenkyn was buried in Bunhill 
Fields, where a tombstone was erected to his memory, in 
17 15. It bears the following inscription: 'In Dom. Guil. 
Jenkyn, M.D.V. Lond. Cujus Gratia, inter graves Ecclesiae 
procellas, Novopylo incarceratus, Martyr obit. Anno Aetatis 
lxxiij Minri lii 5 Dom. MDCLXXXIV.' 

Jenkyn publifhed, 1. 'An Exposition on the Epistle of 
Jude.' 2 vols., 4to. 2. 'The Busy Bifhop; in answer to 
John Goodwin's Zion College Visited.' 4to., 1648. 3. 'A 
Vindication of the Busy Bifhop ; in answer to John Goodwin's 
reply.' 4. ' A Funeral Sermon for Thomas Gouge, D.D.' 
5. ' A Funeral Sermon for Dr. Seaman;' which caused much 
controversy. Jenkyn had charged some of the Conformifts 
with preaching the sermons of the Puritans while they were 
treating their persons with contempt. In answer to one of 
the writers in this controversy, he publifhed, 6. 'Celeusma sive 
Clamor ad Coelum adv. Theolog. Hierarchiae Anglicanae.' 
4to., 1667. This being answered in Latin, by Dr« Robert 
Grove, Jenkyn wrote, 7. 'A Reply to Grove,' in the same 
language. 8. ' Three Sermons in the Morning Exercises.' * 

John Johnson. Ejected from New College, Oxford. He 
was originally of Emmanuel College, Oxford, and shortly 
before 1649, fellow of St. John's. In 1650 he removed from 

* Cal. Ace. 16; Cont. 175 Palmer i. ii. 173; Brook's Lives ii. 271. Jones, 
1 13 j Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 734} Newc. Bunhill Memoirs 109. 



"John Johnson, John Knowles. 547 

St. John's to New College, when he was also elected fellow. 
In 1655 he was presented by his college to the rectory of 
Hornchurch, but removed the year following, as I am kindly 
informed by the Rev. J. E. Sewell, B.D., the present Warden 
of New College, to the vicarage of Tingwick, in the county 
of Bedford. After his ejectment he retired to the neigh- 
bourhood of London. He continued, however, to preach. 
March 30, 1680, he delivered a sermon at Crofby Hall, 
on the death of Stephen Charnock, which was afterwards pub- 
lished. Calamy says, c I have seen a manuscript of his upon 
this queftion, c Whether I should be re-ordained ? Or, 
whether one that has been ordained a Presbyter, according to 
the form of Presbyterian ordination, should be ordained priest 
or deacon, or both, according to the Episcopal ? Whether 
he may without sin, or must it be his duty ? ' Johnson was 
one of the earliest English Egyptologifts."* 

John Knowles. Silenced at Bristol. He was a native of 
Lincolnfhire. He was first of Magdalen College, and after- 
wards of Katherine Hall, Cambridge. In 1625 he was chosen 
a fellow of Katherine Hall, and afterwards became greatly 
honoured as a tutor there. In 1650 it was found that about 
a dozen of his pupils had become c members of Parliament, 
and others eminent preachers, about thirty.' In 1635, while 
he was in the midst of his usefulness at Cambridge, the mayor 
of Colchefter, Daniel Cole, the last bailiff and the first mayor 
of the town, and the corporation, invited him to be their 
lecturer, Richard Maden having resigned. He accepted their 
invitation, and soon acquired great influence in the town 
and its neighbourhood. While here he enjoyed the personal 
friendship of John Rogers, of Dedham, whom he attended 
on his death-bed, and whose funeral sermon he preached, from 
a text of his friend's own selection. He also had the privilege 
of recommending the afterwards so well-known Matthew 
Newcomen as the succefTor of his friend. 

Laud soon found in Knowles a very different man from 

* Cal. Ace. 67 } Cont. 101 ; Wood, Fast. ii. 71 93, Ath. Ox. ii. 658. 

P P 2 



vi 



j 



548 John Knowles. 

Maden. In 1637 a vacancy occurred in the mafterfhip of the 
Grammar School at Colchefter, by the death of William 
Kempe, who had been appointed in 1598. The mayor, Henry 
Barrington, and the corporation, requested Knowles to recom- 
mend them a succeflor. He did so. It was William Dugard, 
or, as his name is given in the Assembly Book, Dewgard. 
This able man was of Sidney College, Cambridge, and had 
previoufly been matter of Stamford School. Morant says of 
him, that he was a most excellent scholar, and that ' he not 
only brought the school into a most flourifhing condition, but 
also made several useful repairs and improvements about the 
school-house. Notwithstanding which, he met with so much 
ingratitude and unkind usage, though many persons of the 
highest eminence interposed in his behalf, that he was fain to 
be content to refign his place, January 17, 1642-3 .... 
Shortly after his removal ... he was chosen head mailer of 
Merchant Taylor's School, London.' * 

The appointment of Dugard was anything but pleafing to 
Laud, who had recommended another candidate. His reso- 
lution was therefore soon taken ; the lecturer, if possible, must 
be removed. Knowles, from the first, had taken a decided 
stand against the lawless c Innovations ' which were being 
urged with such exceilive violence ; and, in common with many 
others in the town, rather than receive the communion at the 
rails he had forborn that privilege altogether. Laud saw his 
opportunity, and eagerly availed himself of it. He reprimanded 
him, and threatened him. Knowles, forseeing but too plainly 
what would follow, before the end of the year refigned his 
lecturefhip and left Colchefter. In 1639 ne emDaf ked for 
New England. 

On his arrival in America, he was thankfully welcomed by 
the little band of exiles who had already settled there, and was 
almost immediately chosen as co-paftor with George Philips, 
at Watertown. Two years after his settlement at Watertown, 
a deputation was sent to the churches of New England from 

* Dugard, Biog. Brit. ed. Kippis. Mor. Col. 177. 



yohn Knowles. 549 

the people of Virginia, entreating them to send some of their 
ministers to preach to them. Knowles, with two others, 
accepted the service. On his arrival in his new sphere, he at 
first met with great encouragement, so much so that in after 
life he was accuftomed to say, that he c never saw so much of 
the bleffing of God upon his miniftry as there and at Col- 
chefter.' The rulers of the province, however, shortly issued 
an order that such as would not conform to the ceremonies of 
the Church of England, should, by such a day, depart the 
country. Knowles now re-embarked for England, and on his 
arrival he was soon appointed to the important post of preacher 
in the cathedral at Bristol, where his miniftry was greatly 
blessed to multitudes. While there he appears to have kept up 
a correspondence with his old friends in Essex, and more than 
once to have visited them. He writes from Briftol, February 
5, 1653, 'To the right worfhipfull the Mayor of Colchefter,' 
Thomas Pecke, as follows : c I presume to putt a word or two 
of thankfullness into your hand for that unexpected promise of 
yours, which you gave mee in Weftminfter Hall, of your 
willingness to doe mee righteousnesse about that hundred 
pounds which I conceive is due to mee .... I had some 
conference with the Mayor and Aldermen about it some two 
years since. I remember not any that opposed me in it at that 
time but Mr. Harrison .... I came the last year with a 
purpose to have visited my old friends in Colchefter, and was 
within seven miles of the place, but there was an interposition 
of Divine providence which hindered me . . . To my know- 
ledge many of the people in your toune look upon mee as a 
sufferer in it . . . . If the Lord will, I intend to be with you 
in April next, or before .... Yours to command in any 
service for Christ, John Knowles.' 

Fuller, in his 'Hiftory of Dissent in Briftol,' says that 
Elizabeth Marfhall, a well-known 'Friend' of the day, 'on the 
17th December, 1654, delivered a message to John Knowles, 
priest, at the Steeple House, called the College, whom she 
heard patiently to the conclusion of the service, when she 
could not refrain no longer, but cried out 'This is the word of 



7 



550 John Knowles. 

God : the Lord to thee, Knowles. I warn thee to repent, and 
to mind the light of Christ in thy conscience.' ' This naturally 
produced a tumult, and she was expelled and sent to Newgate. 
. . . . c On 23rd January, 1655, the house in Corn Street, in 
which the Quakers usually assembled, was besieged by a 
ruffianly mob, who assailed the poor Quakers with blows, 
kicks, dirt, stones, &c, whilst alderman Jackson and priest 
Knowles looked on.' In Evans' Hiftory there are the follow- 
ing statements relative to annoyances that Knowles suffered, 
apparently from the same people: '1657, June 20: Mr. 
Knolls was difturbed during his sermon in All Hallows church 
by one Nathaniel Milner. 1659, October 6 : Thomas Jones 
committed to prison, charged with assailing the door of Mr. 
Knowles, minifter in the Caftle, with a chopping knife, and 
abusing language before the mayor and aldermen. Being 
queftioned as to what he would say to the accusation against 
him, he replied, 'The Lord of Hosts will not answer thee." 

Knowles was first ejected by the act of 1660, and afterwards 
silenced by the Act of Uniformity. After he left Briftol he 
removed to London, where he persifted in preaching whenever 
he had the opportunity. There are traces of his preaching at 
'Great All Hallows,' August 24, 1661, at 'a fast;' and also 
of his regularly preaching there 'on Mondayes, Wednesdayes, 
and Thursdayes, at the sayd church."* Mather tells us, that 
when some of his friends discouraged him with fears of his 
being thrown into prison, if he did not affect more of privacy, 
he replied, 'In truth I had rather be in a gaol, where I might 
have a number of souls to whom I might preach the truths of 
my beloved Matter, than live idle in my own house without 
any such opportunities.' When the plague broke out in 1665, 
and the parochial clergy, for the most part, fled from the city, 
Knowles, like several others of the ejected minifters, remained 
and was very useful to the sufferers from that great calamity, 
visiting rich and poor, without fear, when he was capable of 

* S. P. O. MSS. Dom. Ser. Charles of whose letters are contained in the same 
II. xli. 39. He is not to be confounded series of MSS. 
with another of the same name, several 



John Knowles^ Thomas Lawson. 551 

any service. On the declaration of indulgence, in 1672, he 
'preached statedly to a people at St. Katherine's, as colleague 
to Thomas Kentish, who had been ejected from the rectory of 
Overton, in the county of Hants. The congregation at St. 
Katherine's, which was originally gathered by Samuel Slater, 
after his ejection from the collegiate chapel of that name, was 
the parent of the church now assembling in the Weigh House 
chapel, under the paftorfhip of the Rev. T. Binney. 

Knowles lived to a good old age, and to the last c he still 
continued to do great good, wherein his labours were so fervent 
and eager that he would sometimes preach till he fell down, 
and yet have a youthful readiness in the matter and spirit of 
his preaching.' He died April 10, 1685.* 

Thomas Lawson. Ejected from Denton, in the county of 
Norfolk. He was of the University of Cambridge, where he 
took the degree of M.A. when of Katherine Hall, and after- 
wards became fellow of St. John's. He was settled in the 
sequeftration of Jos. Long, at Fingringhoe, in June, 1646 ; 
and on the union of that parish with the neighbouring one of 
East Donniland, he was inftituted to that living also, by order 
of the House of Commons, May 4, 1647, on the presentation 
of Henry Tunftall, the patron. He continued to discharge the 
united cure until after 1650, at which date he is returned 
at Fingringhoe as, ' by order of the Committee for Plundered 
Minifters.' He signed the 'Essex Teftimony' in 1648. After 
his ejectment from Denton he resided in Suffolk. Under date 
April 17, 1672, I find entry of a license granted to 'the house 
of Thomas Lawson, in Norten, Suffolk, to be an Independent 
meeting place;' and on the same day, another, of a license 

* Cal. Ace. 608; Palmer iii. 173; sion, enables me to give the date of his 

Mather, Hist of N. E. iii. 2, 3 ; Laud, burial, in the latter parish, as Feb. 7. 

Ace. of his province, 1637; Mor. Col. Ralph Harrison was Mayor of Colchester 

100, 177; Mor. MSS. Col. Museum. in 1642, and was Alderman at the time 

Wilson, Hist, of Diflenting Churches ii. of the siege. He was also buried in St. 

154. Barrington died in 1643. The Botolph's. See epitaph on the grave-stone 

courtesy of the Rev. Francis Curtis, the of his son, of the same name, in the church 

present re&or of All Saints, who has the of St. Leonard's. Mor. Col. April 23. 
old regifter of St. Botolph's in his pofles- 



552 Thomas Lowry. 

granted to him to be an 'Independent teacher in his own 
house.' *" 

Thomas Lowry. He was ejected from Market Har- 
borough, in Leicesterfhire. From the date of his ejectment, 
it is clear, that the living was a sequestration. He was ap- 
pointed to Great Brackstead, in this county, about 1642, on the 
sequestration of Thomas Meighen, who also had the living of 
Tollefhunt Major sequeftered from him; and who, according 
to Walker's statement, was also taken prisoner at the same 
date, c for some political delinquencies.' Meighen dying before 
1 2th December, 1643, the patron, Philip, Earl of Pembroke, 
presented Richard Milward, and Lowry was removed. Mil- 
ward is reported, in 1650, as c of a civil life, but they will say 
nothing of his ability/ He conformed in 1662, and diedbefore 
January, 1680. 

What now became of Lowry, for six years, I have not been 
able to ascertain. Nichols, the hiftorian of Leicefterfhire, 
quoted by Palmer, gives the date of his induction at Market 
Harborough as February 24, 1649. Palmer also says that he 
was chosen lecturer of Maldon, June 13, 1649, but c ° em g tne 
settled minifter of Harborough,' he declined the appointment. 
After his ejectment in Leicefterfhire Lowry returned to Essex, 
and took up his residence at Coggefhall. There are entries in 
the parish regifter there of the birth of two of Lowry's children 
at that town: Obadiah, May 28, 1661; and Robert, September 
28, 1662. In 1669 he is reported to Sheldon as having a 
'conventicle at Coggefhall, in conjunction with Sames.' On 
the declaration of indulgence Lowry took out two licenses, 
one for himself to be a 'Congregational teacher' in his house 
at Coggefhall, and another for his house to be a ' Congregational 
meeting house.' This was in May, 1672. He died at 
Coggefhall in 1681. His funeral sermon was preached by 
Robert Gouge. Gouge spoke of him as 'my reverend friend, 
who has laboured much among you.' f 

* Cal. Ace. 483; Cont. 684; Lands. f Cal. Ace. 436; Palmer ii. 387 - 

MSS. 459 ; License Book, S. P. O., ante N. ii. 93, 604; Walker ii. 307. Meighen, 
p # n* 0t ante p. 160. Lands. MSS. 459; Lam- 



Thomas Mall. 553 

Thomas Mall. Ejefted from the office of preacher in the 
Cathedral Church of Exeter. He was of Pembroke 
Hall, Cambridge. Shortly after taking his bachelor's degree he 
was elected fellow of his college. About this time he went 
into Cornwall, and ' met with so much encouragement and 
success as a preacher, that he left Cambridge and gave himself 
wholly to the work of the miniftry.' He was appointed by the 
Committee of Plundered Minifters to the cure of Thaxted 
before September, 1647. When he left Thaxted he seems to 
have at once removed to Exeter, where he was associated with 
Lewis Stuckley and Thomas Ford. His name appears among 
the signatures to the 'Most Humble Address of several 
Minifters, in the county of Devon and city of Exeter, in 
the behalf of themselves and their Congregations,' which is 
printed by the Rev. J. Stoughton in his 'Church and State 
Two Hundred Years Ago,' p. 72. After his ejectment he was 
held to be of sufficient importance to be watched by the spies 
of the time, as he is one of nineteen minifters who are reported 
to 'preach matters which tend to the seducing of the people, 
and encouraging of them to suffer anything that shall be laid 
upon them rather than to comply with them that are in power, 
that would tye them up to fformes.' He would then appear to 
have been in London. In 1672 he took out a license to be a 
'Congregational teacher in Robert Squire's house, in South 
Molton,' Devonfhire; and, at the same time, another license 
was taken out for the house of Robert Squire, to be a 'Con- 
gregational meeting place.' This was April 16, 1672. 

He publifhed, 1. 'A Cloud of Witnesses; or, the Sufferer's 
Mirror ; made up of the swan-like songs and other choice 
passages of several Martyrs and Confessors to the Sixteenth 
Century, in their Treatises, Letters, Prayers, in their Prisons 
and Exiles, at the Bar or Stake, by T. M.' 8vo., Lond., 1645. 
2. 'The Axe at the Root of Professor's Marriages.' 4to., 1668. 
Calamy also ascribes to him, 3. 'The Opinions of the Old 
Nonconforming,' drawn up in consequence of a controversy 

beth MSS. 639 j License Book, S. P. O. ; Dale, Annals of Coggefhall 193, see Sames. 
Ante p. 364. 



554 Thomas Micklethwaite, John Owen. 

that arose in his congregation at Exeter; and c An Exhortation 
to Holy Living, joined with a Treatise of Mr. Polwheil.' * 

Thomas Micklethwaite. He was ejected from the perpetual 
curacy of Cherryburton, in the county of York. He was 
for a short time at White Roothing, which living had been 
sequeftered from Charles Laventhorp. In 1643 he was elected 
one of the AfTembly of Divines, being then already settled at 
Cherryburton. Calamy says of him, that he c was father to 
Sir John Micklethwaite, the noted physician ; and the father 
was no less famous in the country for his piety, gravity, 
prudence and learning, in his profeffion of divinity, than his 
son was at London, for his skill in the art of medicine.' 
Micklethwaite had long been dead when Calamy publifhed 
his account. t 

John Owen. Silenced at Stadham, in the county of 
Oxford. His father, Henry Owen, was vicar of the parish, 
c a painful labourer in the vineyard of the Lord.' He received 
his early education in a school kept in a 'private house in 
All Saints' parifh,' Oxford, by Edward Sylvefter, of whom 
Wood says, that ' he lived to see several of his scholars to be 
heads of houses' in the University; among them were, 
besides Owen, John Wilkins, warden of Wadham, and 
Henry Wilkinson, principal of Magdalen. Owen entered 
Queen's College as a student at the early age of twelve. Here 
his tutor was Thomas Barton, afterwards bifhop of Lincoln. 
At the age of nineteen he took the degree of M.A. He also 
took episcopal orders while at Oxford. When Laud urged 
his innovations in the University, Owen left, and became 
chaplain and tutor in the family of Sir Philip Dormer, of 
Ascot, near Stadham, and afterwards chaplain in the family 
of Lord Lovelace, of Harley, in the county of Berks. On 
the breaking out of the civil war, Owen sided with the Par- 
liament. He now came to London, where he took up his 

* Ante p. 490; Cal. Ace. 220; f Ante p. 452; Cal. Ace. 821; 

Cont. 244; S. P. O. Charles II.; License Cont. 951; Add. MSS. 15669, 186; 
Book, ante p. 340. Neal ii. 41. Sir John Micklethwaite. 

Wood, Fast. ii. 63, Ath. ii. 673. 



John Owen. 555 

residence in Charter House Yard. It was there that he 
personally realized that c Forgiveness of Sin/ of which he 
afterwards so eloquently wrote. He went one Lord's day 
morning to hear Edmund Calamy, at Aldermanbury, but the 
pulpit was occupied by a stranger. Owen however remained. 
c After a prayer of simple earneftness,' the preacher announced 
his text, c Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith.' The 
sermon proved to be c a word in season.' From that hour 
Owen was another man. It is said that he afterwards used 
every means in his power to discover who the preacher was, 
but to the last without success. It was while he was residing 
in London, also, that he publifhed his first book, c A Display 
of Arminianism,' which appeared in 1642. 

From London Owen removed to EfTex, where he settled at 
Fordham, the vicarage of which parish had been sequestered 
from John Alsop."* According to a statement in. the parish 
register, this was in July, 1643. He was now married to a 
lady of the name of Mary Rooke, by whom he ultimately 
had eleven children, all of whom, with the exception of one, 
a daughter, died in early life. His son, John, was baptized at 
Fordham, December 20, 1644. There is the following entry 
relating to him in the minutes of the Committee for Plundered 
Ministers, under date March 14, 1645 : c Ordered that an 
ordinance be drawne and executed to the House, for ye settling 
of Mr. John Owen, minifter of the word, in the church of 
St. Botolph's, in Colchefter, void by death ; in the gift of Sir 
Henry Audley, delinquent; and that he shall officiate the said 
cure in the meantime, and have and enjoy the profits of the 
said cure.' I find no record of this ordinance in the Journals 
of the House, and, if it was framed, the arrangement must 
have been but temporary, as in June, 1646, I find another 
entry in the same minutes, to the effect that, upon the c joint 
petition of the churchwardens of the parifhes of Buttolphes 
and All Saintes, it is ordered that, in regard the said churches 
are worth but ^50 per ann. . . . these churches are now 

* Alsop, ante pp. 349, 398. 



556 John Owen. 

wholly unprovided for, the said benefices and churches shall be 
united.' On the 29th of April, 1646, he preached before the 
Parliament, at St. Margaret's, Weftminfter. The sermon was 
afterwards publifhed under the title of 'A Vision of Unchange- 
able Mercy.' It was dedicated to the Parliament} of which it 
speaks c as most deservedly celebrated throughout the whole 
world, and to be held in everlafting remembrance by all the 
inhabitants of this land.' While at Fordham, Owen also 
publifhed, c The Duty of Pastors and People Diftinguifhed,' 
in 1643 j and 'The Principles of the Doctrine of Christ 
Unfolded,' in two short catechisms, in 1645. 

I have already narrated the circumftances under which Owen 
removed to Coggefhall. % The following is the entry, relating 
to his inftitution to that vicarage, in the Journals of the House 
of Lords : c 1646, August 18. It is this day ordered, by the 
Lords in Parliament assembled, that Mr. Dr. Aylett, or his 
lawful deputy, be hereby authorized and required, upon sight of 
this order, to give inftitution and induction to Mr. Owen,- clerk, 
to the vicarage of Coggefhall, county of Essex, and diocese of 
London, void by the refignation of Mr. Obadiah Sedgwick, late 
vicar there ; said Mr. Owen producing the presentation there- 
unto in the hand and seal of the right honourable Robert, Earl 
of Warwick, and others ; and this to be a sufficient authority 
in that behalf. ' 

Obadiah Sedgwick was the brother of John, of Clavering. f 
He had now become preacher at St. Paul's, Covent Garden, 
London. He was also an Oxford man. On leaving the 
University he became chaplain to Sir Horatio Vere, ' Baron of 
Tilbury,' whom he accompanied to the ' Low Countries.' He 
then returned to Oxford, and settled there as tutor. From 
Oxford he removed to London, where he was c preacher to the 
inhabitants of St. Mildred's parish, in Bread Street.' He was 
infKtuted to the vicarage of Coggefhall July 15, 1639. While 
here he published 1. ' Military Discipline for a Chriftian 
Soldier,' a sermon on 1 Cor. xvi. 13, 14, Lond., 1639, 8vo. 

* Ante p. 398. f Ante p. 361. 



John Owen. 557 

2. 'Christ's Counsel to the languifhing Church of Sardis,' 
Lond., 1640, 8vo. ; and four sermons preached by him before 
the Parliament, 1642, 1643, J 644, 1645. He was one of the 
first to be named for the Assembly of Divines ; and was 
associated with Edmund Calamy at the meeting of the citizens 
in the Guildhall, October 6, 1643, ' to obtain money to carry 
on the war, and for the Scots' assiftance,' and his speech on that 
occafion was afterwards published. After his removal to 
London he also published, ' The Nature and Danger of 
Heresies,' a fast sermon on Rev. xii. 15, 16, Lond., 1647. 
'The Best and Worst Malignant,' 1648. 'Christ, the Life, 
and Death, the Gain,' a funeral sermon, 1650. ' The 
Doubting ChrifKan Resolved ; a treatise of the nature, kinds, 
springs, and remedies of doubtings.' 1653. ' Elisha's Lamen- 
tation upon the Sudden Translation of Elijah,' preached at the 
funeral of Mr. William Strong, 1654. ' The Humble Sinner 
resolved what he should do to be saved.' 1656. His health 
failing him he now retired to Marlborough, his native place, 
where he sent to the press : ' The Fountain Opened and the 
Water of Life flowing forth,' 1657 ; 'An Exposition of Psalm 
xxiii.' 1658 j 'A Synopsis of Chriftianity ;' and 'A Short 
Catechism.' He died at Marlborough in January, 1658, at 
the age of fifty-seven. After his death there were published 
of his: ' The Anatomy of Secret Sins,' 1660 ; 'The Bowels 
of Tender Mercy Sealed in the Everlafting Covenant,' 1661 ; 
and 'The Parable of the Prodigal.'* 

Before he settled at Coggefhall, Owen had become a Con- 
gregationalist, and he now formed a church of that order in his 
parish= His congregation here was large, consifting, it is said, 
of 'nearly two thousand persons.' The year after his removal 
from Fordham, he publifhed: 'Eschol; or, Rules of Direction 
for the Walking of the Saints in Fellowfhip, according to the 
order of the Gospel,' 1647; and ' Salus Eleclorum, Sangius 
Jesu ; or, the Death of Death in the Death of Christ.' During 
the siege of Colchefter, of which Owen says ' that he was an 

* Wood, Ath. Ox. 2175 Brook's Lives iii. 295; Dale, Annals of Coggeshall 
see also ante pp. 207, 208, 317. 



558 John Owen. 

endangered spectator, ' Lord Fairfax fixed his head quarters at 
Coggefhall, and a friendfhip was formed between him and the 
vicar, which was only interrupted by the death of Fairfax in 
167 1. After the surrender of Colchefter, Owen preached two 
sermons, the one to the army in that town on a day of thanks- 
giving for the event, and the other before the Parliamentary 
Committee at Romford, a few days afterwards. These were 
afterwards published, under the title of C A Memorial of the 
Deliverance of Essex,' 1648. The day after the execution of 
Charles, Owen was called to preach before the Parliament. 
This sermon he also publifhed, under the title of ' Righteous 
Zeal encouraged by Divine Protection.' To this he appended 
c An Essay on Toleration.' April 16, 1649, ^ e a g am preached 
before Parliament, and delivered his great discourse ' On the 
Shaking of Heaven and Earth.' On that occasion Cromwell 
was one of his hearers. The next day they met at the house 
of Lord Fairfax, when Cromwell is related to have said to 
Owen, c Sir, you are the person whom I must be acquainted 
with.' Owen replied, 'that would be much more to my ad- 
vantage than yours j' to which Cromwell answered, 'we shall 
soon see that,' and, taking Owen by the hand, led him into the 
garden, and made known to him his intention to depart for 
Ireland, and his wish that Owen should accompany him as 
chaplain, and also aid him ' in inve ft i gating and setting in 
order the affairs of the University of Dublin.-' 

Owen ultimately accepted the offer made to him by Crom- 
well, and it was probably during his absence in Ireland that 
Conftantine Jessop preached at Coggefhall. In March, 1649, 
the Parliament appointed him, with others, one of those in 
whom the ' revenues, rents, and profits, which did heretofore 
belong unto the late dean, dean and chapter of St. Patrick in 
Ireland,' and other properties, should be ' vefted .... in trust 
.... for the settling and maintenance of ... . Trinity College, 
and the erecting and maintenance of one other college in 
Dublin .... and also for the erecting and maintenance of a 
free school in that city.' Before he embarked for Ireland, he 
preached once more before the House of Commons. The 



John Owen. 559 

sermon, which was publimed, was entitled 'Human Power 
Defeated.' The next day after this, June 8, 1649, the House 
inftrucled the Committee of Oxford to ' prefer him to be head 
of a college in that University.' He remained in Ireland nine 
months, returned to Coggemall, preached once more before 
Parliament, and, September 17, 1650, he was ordered to join 
Cromwell in Scotland. It should seem that he was one of the 
c godly minifters ' who composed Cromwell's reply to the 
'General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland.' After a short 
time he returned to Coggefhall again, but he soon finally left. 
1 8th March, 1651, the House, 'taking into consideration the 
worth and usefulness of John Owen, M.A., of Queen's 
College, ordered that he should be settled in the deanery of 
Christ Church, in Oxford, in the room of Dr. Reynolds.' 
This was Edward Reynolds, afterwards bifhop of Norwich. 
Wood says that he was forced to leave his deanery because he 
refused to take the ' Independent Engagement.' 

When Owen became dean of Christ Church, Cromwell 
was the chancellor of the University, and, in 1652, he appointed 
Owen, first, one of several commissioners whom he appointed 
to act for him during his absence, and afterwards, in September, 
vice-chancellor. On assuming this important post Owen 
addressed the assembled heads of houses, in a noble oration, 
in the course of which he says : ' I am well aware, gentlemen, 
of the grief which you must feel, that, after so many venerable 
names, reverend persons, depositaries and preceptors of the 
arts and sciences, the fates of the University should have, at 
last, placed him as leader of the company who almost closes 

the rear The academic vessel, too long, alas, tofTed by 

storms, being almost entirely abandoned by all those whose 
more advanced age, longer experience, and well-earned literary 
titles, excited great and just expectations, I have been called 
upon by the partiality and too good opinion of him whose com- 
mands we must not gainsay, and with whom the most earnest 
entreaties to be excused were urged in vain, and also by the 
consenting suffrage of this senate ; and therefore, although 
there is perhaps no one more unfit, I approach the helm. 



560 John Owen. 

We are not ourselves the sources of worthy deeds 

of any kind. ' He who miniflereth seed to the sower,' and 
who c from the mouth of infants hath ordained strength,' is able 
graciously to supply all defects, whether caused from without 
or felt from within. DefKtute, therefore, of any strength 
and boldness of my own, and of any adventitious aid through 
influence with the University, so far as I know or have de- 
served, it nevertheless remains to me to commit myself wholly 
to Him who giveth unto all men liberally, and upbraideth not. 
.... without either a depressed or servile spirit, I address 
myself to this undertaking.' The year after his appointment 
to the vice-chancellorfhip he was diplomated D.D., during his 
absence in London. This diploma, which is dated December 
22, 1653, describes him as in f Palaeftra Theologica exercit 
athTimus, in concionando assiduus et potens, in disputando 
strenuus et acutus.' He was also appointed one of the 
' Commissioners for the approbation of Public Preachers,' and 
one of the ' Commissioners for the ejection of Scandalous and 
Inefficient Ministers, for the county of Oxford ; ' and shortly 
afterwards one of the 'Visitors' for both Universities, and the 
schools of Weftminfter, Winchefter, and other similar estab- 
lifhments. In 1654, he sat in the House of Commons as 
member for his University. 

At the same time that Edward Reynolds was ejected from 
the deanery of Christ Church, Edward Pocock was also ejected 
from a canonry there, and from his Hebrew professorfhip in the 
University, but was still allowed to retain his professorfhip of 
Arabic, and his fellowfhip at Baliol. On his ejectment, Po- 
cock retired to his rectory of Childrey, in the county of Berks. 
Some of Owen's colleagues, in the county commission, en- 
deavoured to displace the professor from his living, on the plea 
of c want of sufficiency.' Owen finding them determined, ana 
knowing their plea to be utterly unfounded, wrote to Thurloe, 

Cromwell's secretary, to beg his interference 'There 

are in Berkshire,' he says, 'some few men of mean quality and 
condition, rash, heady, enemys of titles, who are the com- 
missioners for the ejecting of minifters. They alone sitt and 



"John Owen. 561 

act, and are at this time calling out, on slight and trivial pre- 
tences, very worthy men ; one in especial they intend the next 
week to eject, whose name is Pocoke, a man of as unblameable 
conversation as any that I know living, and of repute for 
learning throughout the world, being the profeffor of Arabic 
in our University, so that they do exceedingly exasperate all 
men, and provoke them to the highest. If anything might be 
done to cause to suspend acting until this storme be over, I 
can't but think it would be good servis to his Highness and 
the commonwealth to doe it. Oxford, March 20, 1655.' 
Owen's intercession was successful, and Pococke retained his 
living to his death in 169 1. 

On the meeting of Cromwell's Parliament in September, 
1656, Owen preached before both Houses, and took for his 
text, Is. xiv. 32, c What shall one then answer the mefTengers 
of the nation ? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the 
poor of His people shall trust in it.' In the May following a 
bill was brought into the House of Commons, ' to settle lands 
of inheritance of the clear value of ^100 per ann., in Ireland, 
on John Owen, D.D., and his heirs, in lieu of lands of ^100 
per ann., formerly granted unto him in England by the Par- 
liament ;' and June 9, that bill passed both Houses. 

In the meanwhile strenuous efforts had been made to per- 
suade Cromwell to accept the title of king. This was not 
unnaturally opposed by many of the leading Puritans, and 
was by no means grateful to the Protector himself. During 
the numerous conferences and disputes that were held on this 
queftion, a petition was presented to Parliament by the officers 
of the army, to the effect, that c they had hazarded their lives 
against monarchy, and were ready still to do so in defence of 
the liberties of their country ; that having observed in some 
"ien great endeavours to bring the nation under their old 
servitude, by pressing their general to take upon him the title 
and designation of a king, in order to deftroy him, and weaken 
the hands of them who were faithful to the public : they 
therefore humbly desired the House to discountenance all such 
persons and endeavours, and continue stedfast to the old cause, 



562 John Owen. 

for the preservation of which they, for their parts, were most 
ready to lay down their lives.' This petition is said to have 
been drawn up by Owen. In the course of the year Cromwell 
resigned his chancellorship of the University 3 and his son, 
Richard, was elected in his place. Owen was now removed 
from the vice-chancellorfhip. His farewell address, on this 
occasion, was afterwards published, as one of c Six Latin 
Orations,' which he delivered to the University. The con- 
cluding sentences are translated by Orme in his memoir : 
c Professors' salaries, lost for many years, have been recovered 
and paid ; some offices of respectability have been maintained ; 
the rights and privileges of the University have been defended 
against all the efforts of its enemies ; the treasury is tenfold 
increased ; many of every rank in the University have been 
promoted to various honours and benefices; new exercises have 
been introduced and eflablished, old ones have been duly per- 
formed; reformation of manners has been diligently studied, 
in spite of the grumbling of certain profligate brawlers ; 
labours have been numberless. Besides submitting to the 
most enormous expense, often when brought to the brink of 
death on your account, I have hated these limbs and this feeble 
body, which was ready to desert my mind; the reproaches of 
the vulgar have been disregarded, the envy of others has been 
overcome. In these circumftances .... I congratulate 
myself on a succeffor who can release me of this burden; and 
you, on one who is able completely to repair any injury which 
your affairs may have suffered through our inattention .... 
I seek again my old labours, my usual watchings, my inter- 
rupted studies.' 

Twenty-six days after the death of Oliver, about two 
hundred delegates, from a hundred and twenty churches, met 
in what was afterwards known as the c Savoy Conference.' 
Their first act was to appoint a committee for digefting the 
articles to be submitted for general acceptance. On this com- 
mittee we find the names of William Bridge and John Owen. 
The results of the conference were publifhed in a small 4*0. 
volume, entitled, ( A Declaration of the Faith and Order 



"John Owen. 563 

owned and preached in the Congregational Churches in 
England \ agreed upon and consented unto by their elders and 
messengers, in their meeting held in the Savoy, October 12, 
1658/ Lond., 1659. 

The Prefbyterian party were now in the ascendant, and as 
the result of that ascendancy, on the 2nd of March, an c Act 
declaring the public confession of faith of the Church of 

England/ was read a third time The Solemn League 

and Covenant was once more revived, and ordered to be 
* printed and publifhed, and set up in every church ; and the 
said Solemn League should be also put in the House.' Such a 
man as Owen could have little sympathy with so disaftrous 
a reaction. It was, therefore, determined to be rid of his 
influence at the University; and accordingly, on the 13th of 
March, 1659-60, the Parliament resolved, c That Dr. Owen 
be and is hereby discharged from being dean of Christ 
Church, and that Dr. Reynolds be and is hereby reftored 
to the deanery.' 

During his vice-chancellorfhip Owen had more or less 
conftantly preached in his native village of Stadham, and 
gathered together a little congregation there. When expelled 
from Oxford, he retired there. In common with others he 
foresaw the direction in which matters were tending, and when 
Caryl and Barker were sent as a deputation from the Inde- 
pendents to Monk, in Scotland, Owen wrote to him expreffing 
strong fears of the danger of their religious liberties upon a 
revolution of the government. Monk, in his reply, says : 
c I do promise you, for myself and the rest of the officers 
here, that your interest, liberty, and encouragement shall be 

very dear to us I do assure you that the great things 

that have been upon my heart to secure and provide for, are 
our liberties and freedom, as the subjects and servants of Jesus 
Christ, which we have conveyed to us in the covenant of grace, 
assured in the promises purchased by the blood of our Saviour 
for us, and given as His great legacy to His church and people. 
.... Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, and blessed be your 
advice, and blessed be ye all ! ' The utter falsity of these 

G Q 2 



564 yshn Owen. 

proteftations Owen was one of the first to prove, by personal 
experience. The reftoration was scarcely accomplished, when 

he was difturbed by a body of the county militia, while peace- 
ably conducting service in his house at Stadham, and his 
little congregation was dispersed. 

At the passing of the Act of Uniformity Owen was silenced.' 
He now appears to have removed to London, where he is 
entered in one of the spy books of the time as, ' meeting often 
with Mr. Goodwin, and as dwelling in the fields near to Moor- 
gate, where the quarters hang,' it is added, ' Jessey often meets 
with them.' He was a frequent sufferer from the persecutions 
which were urged on the Nonconforming, and, at one time, 
seems to have meditated exile, by accepting an invitation which 
he received to succeed John Norton,"* at Bofton, in New 
England. After the declaration of indulgence, Owen began 
to preach more publicly in London, to a regular congregation, 
and his venerable friend, Joseph Caryl, having died soon 'after- 
wards,' the congregations of the two minifters united, and 
continued to assemble under his minifliry in the place of 
worfhip in Leadenhall Street. Here his congregation embraced 
several of the ariftocracv, by whose influence with the King 
Owen was enabled to do much for the protection of many a 
sufferer 'for conscience sake.' Among others whom he thus 
befriended was John Bunvan. In 1676 he lost his first wife, 
and, about eighteen months afterwards, married again to Michal, 
widow of Thomas D'Oyley, of Chifhelhampton, near Stadham. 
This ladv brought him c a considerable fortune, which, with his 
own property, and a legacy that was left him about the same 
time by his cousin, made his condition easy and even affluent, 
so that he was able to keep a carriage during his remaining 
years, and also a country house at Ealing, in Middlesex.' Not 
long after his marriage his health began to decline, he therefore 
resigned his paftoracy, and finally retired to Ealing, where he 
died August 24, 1683. Eleven days afterwards a 'long and 
mournful procession, composed of more than sixty noblemen, 

* Ante pp. 149, 167. 



"John Page, Elias Pledger. 565 

in carriages drawn by six horses each, and of many others in 
mourning coaches and on horseback, silently followed the 
mortal remains of Owen along the streets of London, and 
deposited them in Bunhill Fields — the Puritan necropolis.' * 

John Page. Ejected from Hunningham, in the county of 
Norfolk. He appears to have been appointed to the sequeftra- 
tion of William Fairfax, at East Ham, in 1655, but had left in 
1656, when he was succeeded by John Clark, f 

Ellas Pledger. Ejected from the rectory of St. Antholins, 
in the city of London. He was probably related to Elias 
Pledger, of Great Waltham. He was educated at the grammar 
school at Felftead, under Martin Holbeach, where, as I am 
kindly informed by the Rev. W. S. Grignon, the present 
mailer, he obtained an exhibition of ' five pounds a year for 
three years in the University of Cambridge.' In 1642, having 
obtained his degree, he settled at Chipping Ongar, where he is 
reported, in 1650, as 'a preaching minifter.' He had removed 
from Ongar by 1655. Where he now settled I have not been 
able to ascertain. The Rev. William Milner, the present 
rector of St. Antholins, obliges me with an extract from the 
parish regifters, from which it appears that Pledger was ad- 
mitted to that rectory on the death of Charles Offspring, who 
was buried there March 13, 1659. The same gentleman 
obliges me also with copies of the following entries in the 

* Life, by the Rev. A. Thomson, cessor of Burton, ante p. 450 ; Neal 

B.A., prefixed to Goold's edition of ii. 5405 Pari. Hist iii. 1499 — 1 5^ 2 5 

Owen's works, Edinburgh, 1850. Wood, Carlyle, Cromwell ii. 185, iii. 1925 Jour 

Ath. Ox. ii. 149, 570, 737, 868, Fast. ii. H. of C. vii. 297, 529, 534, 553, 

21, 98 j Add. MSS. 15670, 77, 272; 597 j Perfect Diurnal, No. 10 j Mercurius 

Whitelock, Memorials iii. 47, 241, 245, Politicus, No. 85 Wilson Hist. Diss, 

iv. 273,4135 Burton, Diary i. 96, ii. 97 ; Churches i. 260 ; Massachusetts Hist. Soc. 

Hanbury, Memorials iii. 410, 422, 429, Ser. ii. ii. 266. Owen's daughter, Mary, 

4725 Scobell, Acts of the Interregnum was buried at Coggefhall, 1647, July 25, 

ii. 104 j Thurloe, State Papers iii. 281 ; and another daughter of the same name 

Neal ii. 540 5 Pari. Hist. iii. 1499, 15S2. was baptized there, 1650, Feb. 28. Dale, 

John Thurloe was the son of Thomas Annals 168. 

Thurloe, rector of Abbots Roothing, f Ante p. 233 ; Cal. Ace. 654. 

1612 — 1633, N. ii. 499, where he was Leyson's Environs i. 663. 
born in 161 6. His father was the prede- 



V 



566 William Sedgwick. 

regifter: '9th April, 1660, Francis Mills and Elizabeth 
Pledger married. April 25, 1660, Elias, sonne of Elias 
Pledger, buried.'' He was ejected in 1662. Some notes of 
his farewell sermon have been publifhed in 'The Compleat 
Collection of Farewell Sermons.' Lond , 1663, 8vo. March. 
16, 1663-4, Pledger is reported as having a 'conventicle at ye 
Pheasant, in Friday Streete.' He afterwards 'had a meeting 
house in Lothbury. He died suddenly, after preaching there, 
in the year 1676/ There is a sermon of his printed in the 
Morning Exercise at Cripplegate, on the queftion 'of the cause 
of inward trouble, and how a Chriftian should behave himself 
when inward and outward troubles meet.'* 

William Sedgwick. Ejected in the city of Ely. He was 
the son of a gentleman of the same name who resided in 
London, and was born in Bedfordfhire. He was educated at 
Oxford, in Pembroke College, under George Hughes, who 
was afterwards ejected in Plymouth. On leaving the University 
he was inftituted to the rectory of Farnham, 5th February, 
1634, where he succeeded Thomas Symons. He removed 
from Farnham to Ely. On the 5th October, 1641, a petition 
was preferred against Dr. Fuller, dean of Ely, 'for opposing 
the order about lecturers, the zealots being desirous to set up 
Mr. Sedgwick, a factious minister, to preach a Thursday 
lecture in his parish.' Sedgwick soon became distinguifhed for 
the earnestness of his labours, and acquired the title of 'The 
Apostle of the Isle of Ely.' It should appear, however, that 
his labours ultimately proved too much for hirm as Calamy 
tells us, 'that they who knew him well represent him as a pious 
man, with a disordered head.' Wood says that he was 'very 
unsettled in his opinions : sometimes he was a Presbyterian, 
sometimes an Independent, and, at other times, an Anabaptist. 
Sometimes he was a prophet, and would pretend to foretell 

matters in the pulpit At other times, having received 

revelations, as he pretended, he would forewarn people of their 
sins in public discourses; and, upon pretence of a vision that 

* Palmer i. 93 ; Lands. MSS. 459 j S. P. O. Dom. Ser. Charles II. lxxi. 48 ; 
ante p. 264 $ Holbeach, ante p. 318. 



William Sedgwick, Edward Sherman. 567 

doomsday was at hand, he retired to the house of Sir Francis 
Russell, in Cambridgefhire, .... and finding divers gentle- 
men there at bowles, called upon them to prepare themselves for 
their dissolution, telling them that he had lately received a 
revelation that doomsday would be some day the next week. 
At which the gentlemen, being not pleased, they and others 
always after called him Doomsday Sedgwick.' ' After his eject- 
ment he 'lived mostly' at Lewifham, in Kent; but, about 
1668, he removed to London, where he shortly died. 

Sedgwick publifhed, 1. ' Zion's Deliverance ; a sermon 
preached at a public fast, 29th June, 1642, before the House 
of Commons.' 2. ' Another Sermon on Is. lxii. 7,' 1643. 
3. ' Some Flashes of Lightning in the Son of Man : in eleven 
sermons.' Lond., 1648, 8vo. 4. 'The Leaves of the Tree 
of Life, for the healing of the Nations.' Lond., 1648, 4to. 
When he had publifhed this book, Wood tells us that ' he 
went to Carisbrook Caftle . . . and desired ... to address 

himself to King Charles I The King, therefore, came 

forth, and Sedgwick, in a decent manner, gave his Majesty the 
book. After he had read some part thereof, he returned it to 
the author, with this short admonition and judgment, ' By what 
I have read in this book, I believe the author stands in need of 
some sleep.' These words being taken by the author in the 
best sense, he departed with seeming satisfaction.' 5. ' A 
Prophecy concerning the King, the Army, London^ and the 
Parliament.' 1641. 6. ' Justice upon the Army Remonstrance ; 
or, a Rebuke of that evil spirit that leads them in their councils 
and actions.' Lond., 1649, 4to. 7. 'A Second View of the 
Army Remonstrance.' 1649, 4 to * 8. ' A Letter to Lord 
Fairfax.' 9. ' Animadversions on a Letter and Paper put out 
to his Highness by certain gentlemen and others in Wales.' 
Lond., 1656, 4to. 10. 'Animadversions upon a Book inti- 
tuled Inquisition for the Blood of our Sovereign.' Lond., 
1661, 8vo.* 

Edward Sherman. Ejected from the rectory of Stoke by 

* Ante p. 92 j Cal. Ace. 117 5 Nalson, Coll. ii. 492 j Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 463. 



) 



568 Edward Sherman^ Joseph Sherwood. 

Ipswich. His name appears among the subscribers to the 
' Effex Testimony,' 1648, as ' minifter of Bradwell' (juxta 
Mare). Calamy says, ' He was a judicious, able preacher, but 
exceedingly modest.' After his ejection he became school- 
master at Dedham, and so continued till he died. The insti- 
tution of his succeffor, at Stoke, is entered in the regifter of the 
diocese as follows : ' 3rd Jan., 1663. Stoke juxta Gipsicu p. 
deprivaci5em Mgri. Sherman ult. incumben. ibi virtute nuperi 
Actus parliament, pro uniformitate.' * 

Joseph Sherwood. Ejected from St. Hilary, Cornwall. 
He was settled at High Roothing, on the sequeftration of 
John Duke. His name appears in the c Classis' as of that 
parish, but he must have left immediately after his appoint- 
ment, as September 18, 1646, there is an entry in the minutes 
of the Committee for Plundered Minifters that, 'Joseph Sher- 
wood having voluntarily relinquifhed the rectory, .... it is 
now sequeftered to Francis Hylls, minifter of the word.' It 
should appear that he removed from Roothing to St. Hilary, 
and that that also was a sequeftration. The Rev. Thomas 
Pascal, the present vicar, informs me that the sequeftered 
clergyman's name was William Carrick. 

Sherwood was ejected under the act of 1660. He afterwards 
resided at St. Ives, Cornwall, and was a conftant preacher there 
and at Penzance. 'Some little time after his ejectment,' says 
Calamy, 'he was cited to the spiritual court for not going to 
church. He appeared, and gave for a reason that there was no 
preaching; that, as he was a minifter himself, he could not with 
any satisfaction attend there only to hear the clerk read the 
prayers; but promised to go the next Lord's day if there were 
a sermon. Finding, upon enquiry, that there was no minifter 
the next Lord's day, he went not ; and so was cited again, and 
gave the same answer. The Lord's day following great multi- 
tudes came to church, out of novelty, to see Mr. Sherwood, 
who, being informed by the churchwarden (that was his friend), 
that there would be no sermon, went into the church and seated 

* Ante p. 273 ; CaL Ace. 645. 



yoseph Sherwood^ Samuel Smith. 569 

himself in the clerk's desk at the time of prayers, and then 
went up into the pulpit and prayed and preached from these 
words: c And I will avenge the quarrell of my covenant.' The 
rumour of this action soon spread abroad, but such was the 
people's great affection to Mr. Sherwood, that, though there was 
a crowded congregation in a great church, his enemies could 
not get any one to give information against him, until, by 
wheedling, they got an acknowledgment from his friend, the 
churchwarden; and then, by threats, frightened him into a formal 

information He was then carried to a petty session of 

juftices He was sent to (Launcefton) prison, where he 

found favor with the keeper, and had a liberty to walk about 

the caftle and town In a little time, Mr. Sherwood 

getting leave to return home, was sent for to Penzance, where 
some juftices met. He immediately went, though he expected 
no other than to be sent back to jail.' He was, however, dis- 
missed, and returning to St. Ives, he resumed his labours until 
his death in 1705.* 

Samuel Smith. Ejected from the vicarage of Cressedge, in 
Shropfhire. He was the son of a minifter, and born at Dudley, 
in Warwickfhire, in 1588. At the age of fifteen he entered 
St. Mary's Hall, Oxford. He appears to have left the Uni- 
versity without a degree. November 30, 16 15, he was 
admitted vicar of Prittlewell. He left here some time before 
1633, as John Negus intervened between him and Thomas 
Pecke. I have not ascertained the date at which he went to 
Cressedge. He was an assiftant to the commissioners for 
'scandalous and ignorant minifters' in Shropfhire. After his 
ejectment he returned to Dudley, and there died, very old, in 
1664, and was buried at the end of the chancel. 

Calamy says of him, that he was a 'very holy, judicious 
man, and greatly efteemed.' Smith was one of the most 
popular writers of his times. He publifhed the following: 1. 
'David's Blessed Man; or, a Short Exposition upon Psalm i. 
Lond., 8vo., tenth ed., 1638; fifteenth, 1685, i2mo. 2. 

* Ante pp. 246, 282; Cal. Ace. 148} Cont. 2135 Add. MSS. 15670, 434. 



570 Samuel Smithy Lemuel Tuke. 

' David's Repentance ; or, a Plain Exposition of Psalm li.' 
Lond., 1618-19; i2mo., several editions. 3. 'Joseph and his 
Mistress, in Five Sermons on Gen. xxxix., 7, 8, 9.' Lond., 

16 19, 8vo. 4. 'Noah's Dove; or, Tydings of Peace to the 
Godly. A Funeral Sermon on Ps. xxxvii., 37.' Lond., 16 19, 
8vo. 5. 'ChrifVs Preparation to His own Death, in Three 
Sermons on Luke xxii., 39, 40, 41.' Lond., 1620, 8vo. 
6. 'Christ's Last Supper, in Five Sermons on 1. Cor. 
xi. 28, 29.' Lond., 1620, 8vo. 7. 'A Chriftian Task: 
Sermon at the Funeral of John Lawson, Gent., at Prittle- 
well, Essex, 28th December, 1619,' on Ps. xc. 12. Lond., 

1620, 8vo. 8. 'The Great Assize; or, the Day of Jubilee, 
in Four Sermons on Rev. xx./ printed about one and thirty 
times up to 1684. Lond., 8vo. 9, 'A Fold for Chrift's Sheep, 
in Two Sermons on Songs of Sol. i. 7, 8,' printed two and 
thirty times up to 1684. Lond., 8vo. 10. 'The Ethiopian 
Eunuch's Conversion: the sum of Thirty Sermons on part of 
Acts viii.' Lond., 1632, 8vo. 11. 'The Chriftian's Guide,' 
printed several times, i2mo. 12. 'The Chief Sheppard, on 
Ps. xxiii.' Lond., 1656, 8vo. 13. 'The Admirable Convert; 
or, the Miraculous Conversion of the Thief on the Cross.' 
Lond., 1632, 8vo. 14. 'Moses: his Prayer, Ps. xc' Lond., 
1656, 8vo. 15. 'Looking Glass for Saints and Sinners; or, an 
Exposition on 2 Ep. of John.' Lond., 1663, 8vo. Calamysays 
that he also wrote on Hoseavi., and several other books. * 

Lemuel Tuke. A Mr. Tuke, ' an ancient man,' was ejected 
from Sutton in Ashfield, in the county of Nottingham. I 
aiTume him to be the Lemuel Tuke who was for some time 
here in ElTex. We find him first at Rayne, it should appear, 
in the capacity of a temporary lecturer. The living was 
sequeftered from Edward Symonds. The sequeftration, as pub- 
lifhed by Walker, speaks for itself: 'Die Veneris, 3 Mart. 
1642. Whereas Edward Symmons (sic), rector of the parifh 
church of Rayne, in the county of EfTex, hath in his sermons, 
and otherwise, exprelTed great malignity and opposition against 

* Cal. Ace. 567; Cont 728; N. ii. 474; Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 3335 Peck, 
ante p. 443. 



Lemuel Tuke. 



571 



the Parliament, and the power and proceedings thereof; affirm- 
ing that the Parliament would force the King to comply with 
those laws they shall make, and that they raise a force against 
the King; and that they are not to be obeyed, though they 
command according to God, if it be not according to the King's 
command; and advised them not to lend any money, plate, or 
horses, towards the raising of forces for the Parliament ; and 
prefTed his auditors to believe whatsoever is set forth in the 
declarations publifhed in the King's name, because a divine 
sentence is in his mouth, and he cannot err, and that if David's 
heart smote him for cutting Saul's garment, what would it have 
done if he had kept away his caftles, towns, and ships. Which 
the Lords and Commons, in Parliament afTembled, taking into 
confideration, for the better supply of an able and godly man in 
the said church, and for the promotion of fit maintenance for 
those that shall officiate therein, do conftitute and ordain that 
Emmanuel Stock, Peter Josceline, Richard Bugby, Richard 
Chankley, Henry Josceline, Ralph Josceline, Edward Hiat, 
or any three of them, shall have power and authority, and are 
hereby required, to sequefter the parsonage house, and all the 
tithes, rents, and profits whatsoever of the parsonage of that 
church, and to appoint collectors for the receiving of them, as 
they in their discretion shall think fit ; and shall have power to 
pay unto Robert Atkins, M.A., a learned and orthodox divine, 
who is hereby appointed and required to preach every Lord's day.' 
About the date of his sequeftration Symonds joined the army 
of the King, and became chaplain to the Life-guard of the 
Prince of Wales, in which capacity, March 3, 1643, he 
preached a sermon to his Majesty's army at Shrewsbury, then 
under the command of the c high and most illustrious Prince 
Rupert,' which he afterwards publifhed, under the title of £ A 
Military Sermon ; wherein, by the word of God, the nature 
and disposition of a rebell is discovered, and the King's true 
souldier described and characterized.' In November, 1644, he 
publifhed, ' Scripture Vindicated from the misapprehensions, 
misinterpretations, and misapplications of Mr. Stephen Marfhall, 
in his sermon preached before the Commons House of Parlia- 



57 2 Lemuel Tuke. 

ment, February 23, 1641, and publifhed by order of that 
House.' Lond., 4-to. This was followed in 1648 by 'The 
King's most gracious messages for peace and a personal treaty; 
published for his people's satisfaction, that they may see and 
judge whether the foundation of the Commons' Declaration, 
touching their votes of no further addresse to the King, viz., 
his Majeftie's aversion to peace, be just, rational, and religious.' 
It was publifhed anonymously in 1648. . After the battle of 
Worcefter, Symmonds fled to France, and there he completed 
' A Vindication of King Charles -, or, a loyal subject's duty 
manifefted in vindicating his soveraigne from those aspersions 
cast upon him by certaine persons, in a scandalous libel, en- 
tituled the King's Cobweb Opened, and publifhed, as they 
say, by order of Parliament ; whereunto is annexed, A True 
Parallel betwixt the sufferings of our Saviour and our Soveraign, 
in divers particulars.' Lond., 1648. In the title page he sub- 
scribes himself ' A Minifter, not of the late confused, but of 
the ancient, orderly, and true Church of England.' 

The minifter at Rayne, in 1650, was Roger Hilton, who is 
described as 'an able preaching minifter.' He conformed. 
His successor, Kidder, afterwards bifhop of Bath and Wells, 
says : 'About the year 1664, I settled at Rayne, and I soon 
discovered that the country I was come into was very different 
from that which I had left. The country was indeed more 
agreeable to my health, but in other respects the difference 
was great. I had lived among a people that was modest and 
teachable, very conformable to the orders of the church, and 
that showed great respect to the clergy ; that paid their tithes 
and offerings exactly. I came to a people that were factious 
to the greatest degree, that endeavoured to defraud the minifter 
of his dues, and that were very censorious and given to 
separation ; and great inveighers against the innocent rites 
and ceremonies of the church. I do not say they were all 
such, but there was too much of this leaven, and it had 
infected a great part of this side of the county.' 

We next meet with Tuke at Steeple, where also there had 
been a sequeftration, it should seem, from Richard Nettles. 



William Voyle, Thomas Waterhouse, Benjamin Way. 573 

The only trace of him, however, is an order from the Com- 
mittee for Plundered Minifters for the appearance of five 
persons before them, for ' abusing Lemuel Tuke, in his 
officiating the cure.' 

All that Calamy says about the ejected minifter of Sutton is, 
c an ancient, blind man, Congregational in his judgment/ * 

William Voyle. Ejected from Hereford Cathedral, under 
the act of 1660. He was one of four joint-paftors who 
preached and adminiftered the Lord's Supper in rotation. 
For some months he was at Radwinter.f 

Thomas Waterhouse. Silenced at Ash, in Suffolk. He was 
a scholar at the Charter House, in London, from whence he 
was sent to Cambridge, where he was of Emmanuel College. 
On completing his University course he became curate to c old 
Mr. Chandler, at Coddenham, in the county of Suffolk,' where 
he married a lady of good family and eftate. He removed 
from Coddenham to a Charter House living, near Bifhop's 
Stortford. On the breaking out of the civil war he fled to 
New England, but soon returned, and then became mailer of 
the Grammar School at Colchefter, as succeflbr to William 
Dugard, who had removed to the Merchant Taylors' School, 
London. He was elected to the office June 30, 1643, and 
remained there until the close of 1647. He then went into 
SufFolk, and ultimately settled at Ash. After he was silenced 
he resided at Ipswich, where he kept a school, and occasionally 
preached. He died at Creting, in 1679 or 1680, being nearly 
eighty years of age. % 

Benjamin Way. Ejected from Stafford, in the county of 
Dorset. He was descended from a good family long settled at 
Bridport, in that county. He was admitted to the vicarage, at 
Barking, in the year 1654, on the death of William Ames, 
who was buried there October 6, 1653. || 

* Walker i. 68; Lands. MSS. 459; f Cal. Ace. 352; Radwinter ante 

Add. MSS. 15669,409; Cal. Ace. 530; p. 445. 

Caftan, Lives of Biihops of Bath and J Cal. Ace. 659; Cont. 899; Morant, 

Wells, quoted in Cunnington's MSS. Colchefter 177 ; Dugard, ante p. 548. 

Hist, of Braintree. || At the end of the first regifter book 



574 Benjamin Way^ Thomas TV eld. 

Way left Essex before February 27, 1660, as he was in- 
stituted on that day to the rectory of Stafford, in the county of 
Dorset. He was succeeded, at Barking, by Thomas Cart- 
wright, afterwards bifhop of Chefter. After his ejectment he 
seems to have retired to Dorchefter, where, May 1, 1672, he 
took out a license to be a Congregational teacher ' in the house 
of William Haydon ; ' and the house was also licensed, on the 
same day, to be a 'Congregational meeting place.' I am 
obliged by the Rev. Edwin J. Hartland, of Briftol, with the 
following extracts from the church books of the congregation 
assembling at Caftle Green in that city: '1676, August 16, 
Benjamin Way, having declared his acceptance of the church's 
call to be their paftor, was admitted into the church with the 
consent of all, but one only excepted, as member and paftor, 
but was not set apart to his office till 8th December, 1676, and 
then solemnly done by fafting and prayer. The . November 
died, and was buried the 12th, at Philips, 1680.' '1676, 
November 4, Jane Way dismissed from a church in Dorchefter 
whereof she is a member. Removed thither again, and died 
in 1697.' 

Way was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of 
the apoftolic John White, of Dorchefter, and sifter of John 
White who was ejected from the living of Pimpern, in the 
county of Dorset; and the second, whom he married in 1675, 
was a lady of the name of Hall, who was also a native of 
Dorchefter. By his first wife, Way had five children. Richard, 
John, and Martha, died young. Joseph, his eldest son, became 
a merchant in Briftol ; and Benjamin, a merchant in London. 
The Rev. Benjamin Way, the present rector of Boreham, is a 
great great grandson of the Nonconformist."* 

Thomas Weld. Ejected from Gateshead, in the county 
of Durham. He was one of the predecessors of John Stalham, 

of baptisms in this parish, 1558 — 1672, * Palmer ii. 187; Lands. MSS. 459 ; 

is a list of excommunicated persons ; Lyson's Environs iv. 105; Hutchin's 

among them appears, ' Thos. Ames et Hist, of Dorset ii. 128; Notes and 

Uxor, Feb. 1, 1663, absolved Nov. 29, Queries, Nov. 1, 1862; Inscriptions in 

1668. ' Notes and Queries, Ap. 11, 1863. Bunhill Fields ; Harl. MSS. 6212. 



Thomas Weld, "John Westley. 575 

at Terling, where he signed the petition in favor of Thomas 
Hooker in 1629, and where he was deprived, by Laud, for 
his Nonconformity before May, 1632. After his deprival he 
was driven into exile, and fled to New England, where he 
remained for some years. In 1649 he was presented to the 
living of Gateshead, to which John Laidler held a presentation 
from Morton, bifhop of Durham, on the avoidance of Jonathan 
Deveraux, who had been presented, July 18, 1645. At 
the reftoration, Laidler produced his dormant presentation and 
was successful. What became of Weld after his ejectment 
does not appear. He publiihed, 1. 'The Rise, Reign, and 
Ruin of Families in New England,' which is more than once 
quoted by Cotton Mather. 2. c An Answer to W. R.(ath- 
band ?) his Narration of the Opinion and Practises of the 
Churches lately erected in New England, vindicating those 
Churches.' 1644, 4to. 3. In conjunction with three other 
minifters of Newcaftle, 'The Perfect Pharisee under Monkish 
Holiness, shewing the Quakers' Opposition to the Fundamental 
Principles and Doctrines of the Gospel.' 4to., 1654. 4. In 
conjunction with Samuel Hammond (afterwards ejected from 
St. Nicholas', Newcaftle), Sidenham, and William Durant 
(afterwards ejected from St. John's, Newcaftle), 'A False Jew 
upon the Discovery of a Scot, who first pretended to be a Jew, 
and then an Anabaptist, and was found a Cheat.' * 

John Westley. He was ejected from Winterborne 
Whitchurch, near Blandford, in the county of Dorset. 
The Rev. Geo. Maxwell, the present vicar of that parish, has 
most kindly supplied me with the greater part of the materials 
for this notice of his noble predeceflbr. He was the son of 
Bartholomew Weftley, a well-known minifter at Charmouth; 
father of Samuel Weftley, rector of Ormefby, Epworth, in 
the county of Lincoln; and the grandfather of the devoted 
John and Charles Wesley, so deservedly honoured as the 
founders of Methodism. He was educated at New Inn Hall, 
Oxford, and was not above two and twenty years of age when 



5j6 John We s thy. 

he began to preach. He was for some time labouring at 
Stanway, in this county. The rectory had been sequestered 
from ' Samuel Baldock to the use of Philip Pinckney,' who 
is described as a 'plundered minifter,' when he was still 'on 
his way home.' As Pinckney, who was the father of John 
Pinckney, afterwards ejected from Langstock, in the county 
of Hants, preferred to return to his old living of Denton, in 
Wilts, where he had been deprived before his exile, the 
sequeftration was transferred to John Weftley. This was 
October 30, 1645. 

Weftley remained at Stanway until after 1650, when he is 
named in the Parliamentary return. At what date he left 
Stanway does not appear. According to Walker, John Okeley 
succeeded to the living in 1654, about which time, it should 
appear, that Westley married a niece of the well-known 
Thomas Fuller. Westley had a numerous family. I am 
favoured with copies of the entries of the baptisms of Timothy, 
April 17, 1659; Elizabeth, January 29, 1660; and Samuel, 
the father of John and Charles, December 17, 1662. He 
seems to have been early involved in trouble at the restoration, 
in consequence of some scruples about taking the oaths of 
'allegiance and supremacy.' For this he was put in prison. 
Early in 1662 he was again in trouble, and was imprisoned a 
second time ; it is not very clear for what offence, but possibly 
as being still suspected of disaffection to Charles. In his ex- 
amination before Gilbert Ironside, bifhop of Briftol, he speaks 
of having 'suffered for imprudencies in matters civil,' and 
having received his Majefty's full pardon. In the February 
after his ejectment he removed to Melcombe, but the corpora- 
tion by some means preventing his settlement there, he removed 
successively to Ilminfter, Bridgewater, and Taunton, in all of 
which places he seems to have been difturbed, and finally 
settled at Preston. Here his labours were incessant, and the 
success that followed on his ministry was most remarkable. 
He formed religious societies in several places in the neigh- 
bourhood, Hutchins says, ' particularly at Radispole, Mel- 
combe, Tamworth, and Whitchurch.' His conduct, indeed, 




William Whitaker. 577 

presents a kind of epitome of Methodism ; his mode of 
preaching, matter, manner, and success being most strikingly- 
similar to that of his grandson.' Calamy says, that 'notwith- 
standing all his prudence in encouraging his meetings more 
privately than most of his brethren, he was oft difturbed, 
several times apprehended, and four times imprisoned ; once at 
Poole for half a year, and once at Dorchefter for three months; 
but the other confinements were not so long. He was in 
many straits and difficulties, but wonderfully supported and 
comforted, and many times very seasonably and surprisingly 
relieved and delivered. And having filled up his part of what 
is behind of the afflicting of Christ in his flesh, for his body's 
sake, which is the church, and finifhed the work given him to 
do, he was like all this vale of tears.' The date of his death 
is supposed to have been about 1670. * 

William Whitaker. Ejected from St. Mary Magdalen, 
Bermondsey. He was the son of the distinguished Jeremiah 
Whitaker, who was colleague of Edward Elton, in this parish. 
These two great men were buried in the same grave, in the 
chancel of the church, with the following inscription on the 
stone which marks their refting place : 

' Where once the famous Elton did entrust 

The preservation of his sacred dust, 

Lies pious Whitaker j both juftly twined, 

Both dead, one grave ; both living, had one mind : 

And by this diflblution have supplyed, 

The hungry grave, and fame, and heaven beside. 

This stone protects their bones, while fame enrols 

Their deathless names, and heaven embrace their souls.' 

'The said Whitaker departed June 1, 1654, aet. suae. 55.' 

William entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, at the age 
of fifteen, and while he was a pupil there, he ' was, as it 
were, a tutor to many tutors in the college, divers of the 
fellows desiring and receiving inftrudfions from him in the Con- 

* Cal. Cont. 437j Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset; Add. MSS. 15669, 363, 15670, 
189, zio, 297 ; Lands. MSS. 459. 

R R 



578 Henry Wilkinson. 

tinental tongues. Dr. Holdsworth, then matter of the college, 
took such notice of him while a freshman, that he gave him 
the keys of the college library, and appointed him tasks in 
translating Euftathius upon Homer, wherein he did so much 
as is scarcely to be imitated. He was for his time one of the 
greatest ornaments and tutors of the University. He entered 
the miniftry at the age of twenty- four.' On the death of 
Thomas Man, in 1648, he was appointed vicar of Horn- 
church, where he is returned, in 1650, as c an able preaching 
minifter,' and was succeeded there by John Johnson, in 1655. 
On the removal of Johnson, Matthew Lacock succeeded to 
the vicarage. Michael Wells, whom Calamy erroneously 
mentions as one of the ejected minifters, succeeded Lacock 
in July, 1658, conformed, and continued vicar until his death 
in March, 1685-6. For this information respecting the vicars 
of Hornchurch, I am indebted to the courtesy of the Rev. 
J. E. Sewell, D.D., the present warden of New College, 
Oxford. John Hoffman, who is mentioned in the c Classis,' 
was probably curate to Thomas Man. 

Whitaker succeeded his father at St. Margaret's, Ber- 
mondsey, and was ejected by the Act of Uniformity. He 
died in 1673. His funeral sermon was preached by Samuel 
Annesley, who was ejected from St. John's, Cripplegate. The 
sermon, which was on Zech. i. 5, 6, was afterwards publifhed. 
Lond., 1673, 4-to. After Whitaker's death, Thomas Jacomb, 
who was ejected from St. Martin's, Ludgate, publifhed eighteen 
of his friend's sermons, and prefixed some account of his life. 
Lond., 1674, 8vo.* 

Henry Wilkinson. Ejected from the principalfhip of Mag- 
dalen Hall, Oxford. He was a Yorkfhire man, the son of 
William Wilkinson, of Aldwick. He was born in 1616, 
educated in Edward Sylvefter's school at Oxford, and elected 
commoner of Magdalen Hall, in 1631. He continued at 
the University till 1642, when he became minifter of 
Buckminfter, in Leicefterfhire. October 30, 1643, he was 

* Cal. Ace. 25 j Lyson's Environs i. 532 5 Lands. MSS. j Hoffman, ante p. 256 j 
Johnson, p. 546. 



Henry Wilkinson. 579 

appointed to the vicarge of Epping, which had been seques- 
tered from Martin Holbeach. While there he was appointed 
on the c Classis,' and also one of the Affembly of Divines. 
He was still there in 1648, when he signed the c EfTex 
Teftimony.' He then almost immediately returned to Oxford, 
where he was created bachelor of divinity, April 14, 1648, 
and shortly afterwards doctor, and was then made principal of 
his Hall, and also appointed moral philosophy reader in the 
University. He was now a prominent and active man, and a 
frequent preacher at Oxford. 

On his ejectment, Wilkinson preached first at Buckminfter, 
in Leicefterfhire, and afterwards at Gosfield, in EfTex. Here 
he refided for some time, and laboured diligently both there 
and in the neighbourhood. In the Vifitation Book of the 
Archdeaconry, under date June 9, 167 1, there is an entry of 
his having been cited for c not reading divine service according 
to the rubric, but doth omit the greater part thereof.' From 
this it would appear that he had officiated at the parifh church. 
The vicarage was then vacant, as Thomas Wardener was 
buried April 6, 1669, and his succeffor, Henry Elliot, was not 
admitted until July 8, 1672. In June sentence was reserved, 
but on the 19th of July following there is entry of his having 
been pronounced c contumacious and excommunicated.' On 
the declaration of indulgence, he took out a license to be a 
c Presbyterian teacher in his house at Gosfield,' and, at the 
same time, a license for his house to be a c Presbyterian meet- 
ing place.' The license is dated 16th May, 1672. In 1673 
he removed to Sible Hedingham, and afterwards to Great 
Cornard, in Suffolk. At this last place he died, May 13, 
1690, and was buried at Milding, near Lavenham. He pub- 
lifhed, 1. c Conciones tres apud Academicos Oxonii nuper 
habitat.' Ps. cxix. 9 ; Ecc. ii. 1 ; 1 Pet. iv. 11 ; Oxon, 1654, 
8vo. 2. c Brevis tractatus de jure divino diei Dominici.' Oxon, 
1658, 8vo. 3. c Conciones sex ad Academicos Oxonienses.' 
Oxon, 1656. Three of these are a reprint of No. 1. 4. c De 
Impotentia liberi arbitrii ad bonum spirituale. Epistolarum 
decas. Oratio habita in schola moralis philosophise.' Oxon, 

R R 2 



580 Henry Wilkinson. 

1658, 8vo. 5. c Conciones duse ap Ox. nuper habitae.' Oxon, 
1658, 8vo. 6. Concio de brevitate opportuni temporis.' 
Oxon, 1660. 7. ' Sermon at Hasely, in the county of Oxford, 
at the funeral of Margaret, late wife of Dr. Edward Corbet, 
paftor of Hasely,' October, 1657, 8vo. 8. c Three decades of 
Sermons lately preached to the University in St. Mary's Church, 
Oxford.' Oxon, 1660, 4-to. 9. c Several Sermons concerning 
God's all-sufficiency and Christ's preciousness.' Lond., 1661, 
8vo. 10. c Catalogus Librorum in Bibl. Aul. Magd. Oxon.' 
1661, 8vo. 11. c The Doctrine of Contentment briefly ex- 
plained; a Treatise on 1 Tim. vi. 8.' Lond., 1671, 8vo. 12. 
c Characters of a Sincere Heart, and the comforts thereof, col- 
lected out of the Word of God.' Lond., 1674, 8vo.* 



Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 849; Cal. Ace. 625 Cont. 81 ; Gosfield, ante p. 231. 



CHAPTER III. 

NATIVES OF ESSEX WHO WERE SILENCED 
OR EJECTED IN OTHER COUNTIES. 



Samuel Angler. Ejected from Christ Church, Oxford. 
He was born at Dedham, August 28, 1639. He was a 
nephew of the well-known John Angier, of Denton, Lan- 
cafhire, and the son, it should appear, of Bezaleel Angier, a 
rich clothier, and c a gracious man,' who died October 30, 
1678. After having been educated at Westminfter School, he 
removed to Christ Church, where he matriculated December 
8, 1659. After his ejection he resided for some time with 
Dr. Owen. In February, 1666-7, ne Decame aflistant to his 
uncle at Denton, where he was ordained. Here he continued 
until the death of his uncle, in September, 1677. He then 
appears to have removed to Dunkinfield. His preaching ex- 
posed him to many troubles ; warrants were frequently ifTued 
against him, and, in 1680, he was excommunicated. He 
preached for several years in an out-building near his house; 
but, on August 19, 1708, he began to preach in a commodious 
place which his congregation had erected for him, and where 
he continued to labour until his death, November 8, 17 13, at 
the age of seventy-five. He lies buried in the place of worfhip 
erected for him at Dunkinfield, and on his tombstone there is 
the following inscription : c Hie requiescit in Domino, Samuel 
Angier, Jesu Chrifti Minifter, vir primaevae pietatis, et omni 
virtuti praeclarus, Dedhamiae in Comitatu EfTexiae, piis et 
honestis parentibus natus Aug. 28, 1639. Weftmonafterensis 
Scholae, deinde Aedis Chrifti Alumnus Regius ; Concionator 
egregius et affiduus, Continuis Evangelio Laboribus et Morbius, 
fere obrutus, Lumine etiam, ingravescente aetate, orbatus, 



582 Samuel Angier. 

Tandem animam placide Deo reddidit 8vo. Novembris, Anno 
Salutis MDCCXIII, Aetatis LXXV.' 

Among the Ayscough MSS., in the British Museum, there 
is a letter of his, dated July 14, but the year is not given, and 
addressed thus : c For the Rev. Mr. Oliver Heywood, minifter 
of the gospel, are these, at North Overham, in Halifax parish, 
near Coley Chappel, Yorkshire/ It is as follows : c Dear 
Cousin. Having an opportunity to send by a poor man of your 
side, Joseph Bemond, I think he calls himself, living about 
Wethersfield, I write to acquaint you, that, through God's 
goodness, I am returned to my family and flock, after seven 
weeks and five days absence. I have received much mercy in 
my journey to and fro. Our friends in Essex yt are living, 
are well, blessed be God .... The town (Dedham) is very 
much altered in nineteen years, all ye old ones are dead .... 
The minifter of the town is a good man, sober and moderate, 
and preacheth well and lives accordingly. His name is Mr. 
Burkit. He doth take great care of ye youth of ye congre- 
gation, to inftruct ym, confer and pray and sing with ym. 
Our Bezaleel (is) very hopefull, of good underftanding and 
serious piety, as we hope. Cousin Mary Snelling, uncle 
Smith's daughter, her hufband and two daughters live well and 
do well at Colchefter. My family and neighbours I found in 
good health, the Lord be praysed. I long to see you. Oh, if 
you could once more visit my congregation, and spend a 
Sabbath with us. If you come over this autumn, let me know. 
Your sifter, Mary, is rather better than formerly. She hath 
seldom any violent fits. I beg your prayers for me and mine. 
I expect my son, John, over in August, God willing. Lady 
Morley died July 8. Bezaleel will now come to me. Pray 
for us all.' * 

Though Calamy mentions John Angier in his c Account,' he is 

* Cal. Cont. iioj Heywood, ' Narra- parish regifter of Lexden, No. 3, there 

tive of the Holy Life and Happy Death are entries of the baptism of a daughter 

of that Reverend, Faithful, and Zealous of Francis Snelling, Feb. 20, 16545 an ^ 

Man of God, and Minifter of Jesus Christ, also of the burial of a child of his, June 

Mr. John Angier.' Lond., 1685, i2mo. 12, 1656. 
Ayscough, Coll. B. M. 4275, 10. In the 



Samuel Angier. 583 

careful to say that Angier continued at Denton after the paffing 
of the Bartholomew Act, and that without conforming. The 
chapel where John Angier preached was erected as early as 
153 1. It was from the first an Evangelical place of worfhip, 
and maintained by the voluntary contributions of the wor- 
shippers. It would also seem that it was Prefbyterian. The 
choice of the minifter was vested in the people. John 
Angier was also born at Dedham, and was baptized there 
October 8, 1605. He was converted under the miniftry of 
John Rogers, in whose house he lived for some time. He was 
also for a season with one Mr. Witham, c whom,' says Hey- 
wood, c I often heard him commended as a great scholar and a 
witty man, of pregnant parts, though not so successful in his 
miniftry as a neighbour minister of far meaner abilities ; one 
being askt the reason, answered, there were too many for God 
to work by.' This was probably Witham of Manningtree. 
He was afterwards of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. From 
Cambridge he went to Boston, where he studied under Mr. 
John Cotton. There he married Ellen Winftanley, Mr. 
Cotton's neice. He received Episcopal ordination at the hands 
of Lewis Bayly, bifhop of Bangor, and author of the 4 Practice 
of Piety,' without subscription. His first settlement was at 
Bingley, from whence he removed to Denton. This was in 
1632. In the dedication of his ' Help to Better Hearts for 
Better Times,' Lond., 1647. i8mo., he says, 'that nine or 
ten years he had not been two single years without interruption.' 
In that time he was twice excommunicated. Being c suspected 
of writing a book which was found in Stockport, and which 
reflected on a speech made by Laud in the Star Chamber, a 
pursuivant was sent to apprehend him. He then sold the land 
which his father had left him and went into Essex, where he 
remained with his friends until the storm was over.' During 
the civil war he adhered to the Parliament, but often pub- 
licly prayed for the King. His only publication appears to 
have been the little volume above quoted, which is recom- 
mended by Mr. Calamy and Mr. Case. * 

* Booker, * History of the Ancient Chapel of Denton.' I am also indebted 



584 John Arthur. 

John Arthur. Ejected from Clapham, Surrey. He was 
the son of Laurence Arthur, of Springfield, in this county, 
and brother of Hercules Arthur, who purchased the manor of 
Fryers, Bocking, in 1632. He was of Emmanuel College, 
Cambridge, and was presented to the vicarage of Clapham by 
Charles I., in 1642. He married Anne, daughter of Miles 
Corbet, who was member for Yarmouth during the long 
Parliament. 

Corbet was of an old Norfolk family, and was recorder of 
Yarmouth for several years. He was one of the commiflioners 
for the trial of Charles I., and signed the warrant for his exe- 
cution. At the reftoration he made his escape to the Continent, 
and, after travelling through many parts of Germany, settled, 
with Berkstead and Okey, who had also been in the com- 
mission, at Hanau, on the Lower Rhine. He imprudently 
left that city, with his companions, and came to Delft, in 
Holland, where he was apprehended at the instance of Sir 
George Downing, the English resident, who had formerly been 
his friend, and by him he was sent to England. Corbet was 
tried in the King's Bench, April 16, 1662, and was sentenced to 
death as a regicide. The day previous to his death, he assured 
his friends ' that he was so thoroughly convinced of the justice 
and necessity of that action for which he was to die, that if 
the things had been yet intire and to do, he could not refuse 
to act as he had done, without affronting his reason, and 
opposing himself to the dictates of his conscience ;' adding, 
c that the immoralities, lewdness, and corruption of all sorts, 
which had been introduced and encouraged since the late 
revolution, were no inconsiderable justification of these pro- 
ceedings.' He was executed at Tyburn, c whither he was 
drawn on a sledge from the Tower ; his quarters were placed 
over the city gates, and his head upon London Bridge.' * 

to a MSS. lecture of the Rev. J. Sir George Downing, according to a 

Waddington, of Denton. Heywood's character quoted of him by Wood (Fafti. ii. 

Life of John Angier. Cal. Ace. 395. 78), ' was a poor child, bred upon charity. 

Witham, p. 172. He drew and advised the oath of re- 

* Noble, Lives of the Regicides i. 184. nouncing the King's family, and took it 



"John Arthur. 



585 



By Anne, his wife, Arthur had five children, John, Henry, 
Anne, Elizabeth, and Dorothy. Arthur drew up the petition 
for William Jenkyn, when he was imprisoned for his share in 
Love's conspiracy, and with great difficulty prevailed upon 
his friend to sign it. In 1654 he was appointed one of the 
assistants to the commissioners for the ejection of scandalous, 
ignorant, and insufficient ministers for the county of Surrey. 
Wood, who speaks of him as a noted theologist, records that 
he was c diplomated D.D., October 10, 1660, by virtue of 
the King's letters, written to the University in his behalf, 
and unknown to him;' and adds, 'this diploma was to pass 
because Mr. Arthur's great age would not permit him to take 
a journey to Oxon, to be there presented in person.' On 
the death of his brother, Hercules, Dr. Arthur succeeded to 
the manor of Fryers. Henry, his son, was killed in a duel, 



first himself. Like many others, he was 
a sider with all changes ; a man of note 
in Cromwell's day, and a member of 
Parliament in 1654 and 1656. He 
turned about at the reftoration, was M.P. 
for Norfolk in 1661,' and was now envoy 
extraordinary to Holland. One of his 
family was Calybute Downing, who suc- 
ceeded Gilbert Sheldon in the rectory of 
Hackney, and was not unknown in Effex. 
He was of Oriel College, Oxford, which 
he entered in 1623. On his entry into 
orders he was made rector of Heckford, 
in Berks, and about that time he was also 
made * doctor of the laws.' On the breaking 
out of the civil war he was- involved 
in trouble, and retired to Little Leighs, 
the house of Robert, Earl of Warwick, 
'and common rendezvous of all schisma- 
tical preachers in those parts.' In 1643, 
he was elected of the Assembly of 
Divines, and about that time he resigned 
the living of Hackney. Shortly after- 
wards he declared himself an Independent, 
and was commonly called ' Hugh Peters 
the Second.' He wrote, 1. ' A Discourse 
of the State Ecclesiaftical of this King- 



dom considered under three conclusions.' 
Oxon. 1633. 2. <A Digrefiion con- 
cerning some ordinary exceptions against 
Ecclesiaftical Orders.' 3. 'A Discovery 
of the False Grounds the Bavarians have 
laid to settle their own Faction, &c.' 
Lond., 1 641, 4to. 4. 'Discourse upon 
the Interest of England in the case of the 
Prince Palatine, his dignities, and do- 
minions.' 5. 'Discoursive Conjecture 
upon the reasons that produced a desired 
event of the present Troubles of Great 
Britain, &c.' 1 641, 4to. 6. 'Considera- 
tions towards a Peaceable Reformation 
in matters Ecclesiaftical.' Lond., 1641, 
4to. 7. Divers Sermons — as 1. 'Sermon 
preached before the renowned Company 
of Artillery, 1st Sept., 1640, on Deut. 
xxv. 17.' Lond., 4to. In this sermon 
he argued that for defence of religion 
and reformation of the church, it was 
lawful to take up arms against the King. 
2. ' Fast Sermon before the House of 
Commons, 31st Aug., 1642, on 2 Thess. 
iii. 2;' and others, says Wood, which I 
have not yet seen. Ath. Ox. 48 — 50. 



586 Thomas Browning. 

and John succeeded his father in the ownerfhip of the estate 
at Bocking. * 

Thomas Browning. Ejected from Desborough, Northamp- 
tonshire. He was a native of EfTex, and probably of Cogges- 
hall. His parents were godly people, and designed him for 
the miniftry. He was sent by them to Oxford at the age of 
sixteen. When he left the University he became an inmate of 
Colonel Sydenham's family, in Hertfordshire. He was as yet 
without any seriousness of character. Leaving Colonel Syden- 
ham, he married, removed to London, and there became in- 
volved in much trouble. One day he dropped in at the morning 
lecture in Weftminfter Abbey, where John Rowe, who was 
then paftor of a congregation there, and was afterwards ejected 
from the cure by the Act of Uniformity, was preaching on 
Eph. iv. 8. The sermon proved to be c a word in season' to 
him. He said of it, c It made my heart to ache and my flesh 
to tremble.' Soon after this he met with John Sames, who, 
it should appear, was then minifter at Kelvedon, in London, 
and, at his inftance, Browning's parents invited him and his 
wife to Coggefhall. He soon joined the Congregational church 
there, and, under the auspices of Sames, he began to preach. 
His first sermon was on Matt. i. 21. He was shortly called 
to Desborough, where he settled in 1657. He was afterwards 
paftor also of the church at Rothwell. Previously to this, some 
of his friends in EfTex endeavoured to prevail upon him to 
return to his native county, when John Beverley, then paftor 
of the church at Rothwell, wrote to Sames, Stalham, and others, 
saying : c Far be it from you, my brethren, who have in EfTex, 
through mercy, such plenty comparative of church labourers, 
to so much as mention what may tend to the depriving us here. 
O do not blast the buddings of so hopeful a ministry !....' 

In May, 1672, Browning's house was licensed to be a 
c Congregational meeting place/ and he himself was licensed to 
be a ' Congregational teacher ' in his own house, and c Susanna 
Ponder's, in Rothwell.' He was once, at least, imprisoned in 

f Cal. Ace. 666 ; Mor. ii. 387 ; Lyson's Environs ; Clapham, Kennet 
Scobell ii. 3435 Wood, Fafti. ii. 137; Regifter ii. 793. 



Thomas Caw ton. 587 

Northampton jail. While there he wrote two most affecting 
letters to the people of his charge, both of which were pub- 
lifhed by his biographer, Mr. Maurice. In one of them he 
says to them : £ Come, my brethren, ye weep now, our tender 
Father has a handkerchief in his hand to wipe away our tears 
ere long. Do not offend with weeping — too many tears may 
defile. ... I tell you if you knew what Christ's prisoners, 
some of them, enjoyed in their gaols, you would not fear their 
condition, bu.t long for it. What, do we stick at dying for 
Him who stuck not at death for us ? Do we find any difficulty 
in that which will be our entrance into glory ? .... My 
brethren, do not budge ; keep your ground. The Scripture is 
your law. God is your King. Your principles are sober, 
your practices are peaceable. Your obedience to superiors 
known, in these things in which your obedience is required. 
Fear nothing of events till they come : only fear offending God 
with a neglect of your duty. There is no shadow like the 
shadow of God's wings. Keep, therefore, close to God. 
Ps. vii. 1.' Browning died May 9, 1685, aged fifty-two, and 
was buried in Rothwell churchyard.* 

Thomas Cawton. Ejected from a fellowfhip at Oxford. 
He was the son of Thomas Cawton, and was born at Wivenhoe 
about 1637. He received his early education from his father 
during his residence at Rotterdam. There he was also a pupil 
of the diftinguiihed orientalist Robert Sherringham. About 
the year 1656 he became a student in the University of Utrecht, 
where he acquired the highest honour by his extraordinary skill 
in the oriental languages, and, in 1657, maintained a thesis on 
the Syriac version of the New Teftament, which he afterwards 
publifhed under the title of ' Disputatio de Versione Syriaca 
Veteris et Novi Teftamenta,' 4-to., 1657, and also another on 
the Hebrew language, which he published under the title of c Dis- 
sertatio de Usu Linguae Hebraicae in Philosophia Theoretica,' 

* Palmer in. 31,35. ' Monument of the miniftry of Mr. John Beverley and 

Mercy, or some of the distinguishing Mr. Thomas Browning ; remembered 

favours of Christ to his Congregational by Matthew Maurice.' Lond., 1679. 

Church at Rothwell, as handed down in License Book, S. P. O., ante p. 340. 



588 Thomas Caw ton. 

Utrecht, 1657, 4to. He remained at Utrecht for three years, 
when he came to England, and entered Merton College, 
Oxford, in order to avail himself of the further inftrucliion of 
the diftinguished orientalist Samuel Clark. In April, 1659, he 
took the degree of B. A., at Oxford, when a certificate was 
read from Leusden, the Hebrew professor at Utrecht, recom- 
mending him to the University, as one who c Totum Vetus 
Testamentum Hebrasum partim pun£tatum, partim non punc- 
tatum perlegit et explicuit, Regulas Grammatical et Syntaxeos 
Hebraicae optime perdidiscit. Deinde in Lingua Syriaca, Novi 
Testament!, et in Lingua Arabica, et Commentariis Rabbinorum 
strenue sese exercuit. Denique quaestiones Philologico-Heb- 
raicas circa Vetus Testamentum Hebraeum moneri solitas, ita 
perdidiscit, ut summo cum honore duas disputationes philolo- 
gicas publice defenderit .... Certe in Disputatione hac 
componenda et in ejusdem strenua defensione ingenium et 
eruditionem suam omnibus palim fecit.' 

At the reftoration Cawton showed his loyalty by writing a 
Hebrew poem, which was publifhed in the c Britannia Rediviva,' 
publifhed at Oxford, 1660. In 1661 he was ordained by the 
biihop, but, refusing to comply with the Act of Uniformity, 
was compelled to leave the University in 1662. He was then 
received as chaplain into the family of Sir Anthony Irby, at 
Westminfter. When the plague broke out, Sir Anthony retired 
into Lincolnfhire ; Cawton then removed into the family of 
Lady Armin, with whom he continued until the year 1670. 
In the meanwhile he appears to have preached frequently. 
2nd April, 1672, there is entry of a license granted him tc 
be a c Prefbyterian teacher in his own house, in St. Anne's 
Lane, Weftminfter,' and at the same date there is entry of a 
license to his c house, as a Prefbyterian meeting house.' He 
soon gathered a congregation, to whom he preached until his 
death, April 10, 1677, at the age of forty. He was buried at 
the New Church, Tothill Street, Westminster. 

Cawton was succeeded in the pastoracy by Vincent Alsop, 
who was ejected from Wilbee, in the county of Northampton ; 
Alsop by Edmund Calamy ; Calamy by Samuel Say, the son 



John Co Hinges. 589 

of Giles Say, who was ejected from St. Michael's, South- 
ampton ; Say by Obadiah, the son of George Hughes, who was 
ejected at Plymouth ; and Hughes by Andrew Kippis, author 
of Cawton's Memoir, in Kippis' edition of the 'Biographia 
Britannica.' Besides the works already noticed, Cawton also 
publimed, 1. ' The Life and Death of his Father,' 2. A 
sermon entitled c Balaam's Wish ; or, the vanity of desiring 
without endeavouring, to obtain the death of the upright.' 
Lond., 1670, 8vo.* 

John Collinges. Ejected from St. Stephen's, Norwich. 
He was a native of Boxted. His father was Edward 
Collinges, M.A., of whom Calamy tells us that he was c one 
whose faithfulness in the ministry, many, both in New England 
and Old, could bear witness to.' John was educated at Cam- 
bridge, where he was of Emmanuel College. October 18, 
1645, being then B.A., he was recommended by the Com- 
mittee for Plundered Ministers to be ordained for the living 
of Alphamstone. He soon became vicar of St. Stephen's, in 
the city of Norwich, where he continued until August, 1662. 
He was a subscriber to the attestation of the ministers of 
Norfolk, in 1648. 

After his ejectment Collinges continued to reside in Norwich, 
and constantly preached. April 30, 1672, I find the following 
entries in the License Book : c John Collings, to be a Prefby- 
terian teacher in Jonathan Wilson's house, in the parish of 
St. Stephen's, in Norwich. The house of Jonathan Wilson, 
in the parish of St. Stephen's, Norwich, licensed to be a 
Prefbyterian meeting place.' Calamy says of him, that ' he 
was one of general learning and signal piety, and eminent 
ministerial abilities : one mighty in the scriptures, an excellent 
casuist, an unwearied preacher, and a patient sufferer. He 
had an interest in many persons of note and figure, notwith- 
standing his nonconformity.' Collinges died in January, 1690. 
His funeral sermon was preached by Martin Fynch, the ejected 
vicar of Totney, in Norfolk. There is a large stone to his 

* Cal. Ace. 75 5 Cont. 106 j Wood, Ath. Ox. ii. 583 j License Book, S. P. 0. 5 
Cawton's Father, 315. 






590 John Collin ges. 

memory in the old meeting at Norwich, with the following 
inscription : ' Hoc in busto, | Mortalitatis suae Exuvias | spe 
Resurrectionls laetae | Lsetus deposuit | Johannes Collinges S. 
Theologiae ProfefTor. | Qui Boxtedae in agro Essexiensi natus 

| Cantabrigiae in Collegio Emmanuelis educatus | Norvici 
sacro Minifterio, XLIV. annis functus | Illic et defunctus 

| Gregem, Convices, Ommesque Pietatem vere amantes | 
Summo in luctu reliquit : | Gregis sui Paftor Vigilantissimus, 

| Evangelii Praeco Indefessus, | Veritatis Pugil, | Errorum 
Mallaeus, | Theologiam sanam morum integritate illuflravit; | 
Eruditionem multiplicem Vitae Simplicitati ornavit \ | Humili- 
tatisetHumanitatis | Exemplar nonVulgare; | In rebus secundis 
Modeftus, | In adversis Erectus, | Utriusque fortunae Victor. 
Qui cum verum Dei Miniftrum, per famam et infamiam, | Illam 
merendo, | Hanc ferendo, | Se diu approbaverat, [ Tandem | 
Seculumhoc | (heu ! tanto Hospite indignum!) deseruit | Coe- 
lumque ubi diu antea versatus est, | Lubens immigravit | XV 
Calend. Februar. Anno Salutis MDCXC. Aetatis LXVIL' 

Collinges was a voluminous writer, and publifbed, I. 'The 
Happiness of Brethren dwelling together in Peace and Unity, 
a sermon on Ps. cxxxiii.' 1639, 4to. 2. 'The Weaver's 
Pocket Book ; or, weaving spiritualized.' Lond., 1649, ^ISt 
8vo. 3. 'Cordials for Fainting Souls; or, essays for satis- 
faction of wounded spirits.' 3 vols., 1649, 1652, 8vo. 4. 
' Five Leflbns.' 8vo., 1650. 5. ' The Shepherd's Wandering, 
in a re-vindication.' Lond., 1652, 4to. 6. ' Responsoria 
Piscatoris ; or, a coveat for old and new prophaneness.' 
Lond., 1653, 4to. 7. 'A New Lesson for Indoctus Doctor.' 
Lond., 1654, 4to. 8. 'A Vindication of the suspension 
of ignorant and scandalous persons from the Lord's Supper, 
against the Boatmen.' Lond., 1654, 4to. 9. 'Responsoria 
Bipartita.' Lond., 1655, 4to. 10. ' Elifha's Lamentations 
for Elijah ; a funeral sermon for the Rev. Mr. Carter, 
of Norwich.' London, 1657, 4to. 11. ' Vindiciae Ministerii 
Evangelici.' Lond., 1658, 4to. 12. 'A Modest Plea for 
the Lord's Day as the Chriftian Sabbath.' 1669. 8vo. 
13. ' Par Nobile : two treatises, the one on the funeral 



John Co Hinges. 591 

of Lady Francis Hobart, and the other on that of her sister, 
Lady Catharine Courten.' Lond., 1669. 8vo. 14. C A Plea 
for the Nonconformists, justifying them from the charge of 
Schism.' 1674. 15. 'An Exercitation whether it is lawful 
to act contrary to his conscience.' 1675. 16. ' Vindiciae 
Minifterii Evangelici revindicatae.' 17. c Christ and his 
Church.' Lond., 1676, 1683. 4to. 18. C A Short Discourse 
against Transubstantiation.' 1675. 19. ' Discourses of the 
Actual Providences of God.' 1678, 4to. 20. c A Reasonable 
Account of the Judgement of the Nonconforming Minifters 
as to Prescribed Forms of Prayer, with a supplement in 
answer to Dr. Falconer's Liturgies.' 1679, 8vo. 21. ' De- 
fensive Armour against Four of Satan's Most Fiery Darts.' 
1680, 8vo. 22. 'English Prefbytery; or, an account of the 
main opinions of those minifters and people in England who 
go under the name of Prefbyterians.' 1680. 4to. 23. C A 
Sermon on Rom. vi. 3, 4.' Lond., 1680, 8vo. 24. c A Vin- 
dication of Liturgies, lately publifhed by Dr. Falconer, proved 
to be no vindication.' 168 1, 8vo. 25. ' The Improveableness 
of Water Baptism, in a discourse concerning the gravity and 
seriousness of the action and the usefulness of its sound 
inftitution.' Lond., 1681, 4to. 26. 'The Case and Cure of 
Persons Excommunicated according to the Present Law of 
England.' 1682, 4to. 27. 'The History of Conformity as a 
Proof of the Mischief of Impositions, from the experience of 
more than one hundred years.' 1681, 4to. 28. ' Faith and 
Experience, in the holy life of Mrs. Mary Simpson.' 29. 'A 
Word in Season.' 30. ' Sermon on the whole of the first and 
second chapters of Canticles.' 31. * Thirteen Sermons upon 
several useful subjects.-' 32. 'Answer to Dr. Scott, on Forms 
of Prayer.' 33. And in 'Poole's Annotations' he was the 
author of the ' Notes on the six last chapters of Isaiah, the 
whole of Jeremiah and Lamentations, the four Evangelists, 
both the Epistles to the Corinthians, the Epistle to the Gala- 
tians, both the Epistles to Timothy, the Epistle to Philemon, 
and the Book of Revelations.' *" 

* Cal. Ace. 474} Cont. 616 j Palmer ii. 10 ; Add. MSS. 15669,460. Finch 



592 Daniel Dyke. 

Daniel Dyke. Ejected from Hadham, in the county of 
Hertford. He was born at Epping, and was the son of Jeremy 
Dyke, and brother of Jeremy Dyke, of Parndon. He was 
educated at Cambridge. There is evidence of his having 
received Episcopal ordination previous to his institution at 
Hadham. That rectory had, according to Walker, been se- 
queftered from Thomas Paske; which might well have been 
the case, as he was archdeacon of London, matter of Clare 
Hall, Cambridge, sub-dean and also a canon of Canterbury, a 
prebendary of York, and, besides the living of Hadham, held 
also the rectory of St. Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey. Paske 
survived the reftoration, and was reftored, Walker presumes, to 
all preferments. He was certainly reftored to the rectory of 
Hadham. Palmer says that Dyke, foreseeing the storm, volun- 
tarily resigned his living. This would have been previous to 
the act of 1660. 

It is said that when Thomas Case, who was afterwards 
ejected from St. Mary Magdalen, Milk Street, and who, with 
Calamy and others, had recently visited Charles, in Holland, 
endeavoured to reftrain him, by alleging the expectations which 
he and his colleague had formed of the King, Dyke replied, 
' that they did deceive and flatter themselves ; that if the King 
was sincere in his show of piety and great respect for them and 
their religion, yet, when he came to be settled, the party that 
had formerly adhered to him, and the creatures that would 
come over with him, would have the management of public 
affairs, would circumvent them in all their desires, and in all 
probability not only turn them out, but take away their liberty 
too.' Events too shortly proved that Dyke's good sense had 
not misled him. Some time after his ejectment he was chosen 
co-paftor with the celebrated William Kiffin, by the Baptist 
church, in Devonfhire Square, London. Here he continued 
until his death in 1638, at the age of seventy. He was buried 
at Bunhill Fields.* 

also took out a license, ioth June, 1672, to munion and the Baptists of Norwich,' xi. 
be ' a Congregational teacher in the house * Palmer ii. 3045 Cal. Cont. 5325 

of Nicholas Wither, in St, Clement's Walker ii. 141; N. i. 8325 Wilson, 

parish, Norwich.' Gould's ' Open Com- Hist, of Diss. Churches i. 435. 



John Ray. 593 

John Ray. He was ejected from his fellowfhip in Trinity 
College, Cambridge, under the Act of Uniformity. He 
was born at Black Notley, and was the son of Dorothy and 
Thomas Ray, of that parish. The Rev. J. Overton, the 
present rector, obliges me with the information that he was 
baptized in that parish, June 29, 1628. He received his early 
education in the school at Braintree. Before he was sixteen 
he was entered at Katherine Hall, Cambridge. This was 
June 28, 1644. In less than two years afterwards he removed 
to Trinity. When he was of three years' standing in that 
college, he was elected minor fellow, at the same time with 
Isaac Barrow. In October, 1653, he took his degree of M.A., 
and was elected major fellow, and also profeflbr of Greek in 
his college. He was appointed mathematical lecturer, October, 
1655 ; humanity reader, October, 1657 ; praelector primarius, 
October, 1658 ; junior dean and college steward, in December, 
1659, anc ^ December, 1660. His c Wisdom of God in the 
Creation,' was a college exercise, and his three c Physicotheo- 
logical Discourses, concerning the Chaos, the Deluge, and 
the Dissolution of the World,' were sermons. He preached 
funeral sermons for his friends, John Arrowsmith and John 
Nid, the latter of whom was his assiftant in drawing up his 
'Catalogue of Cambridge Plants,' in 1660. He was ordained 
both deacon and priest by Sanderson, bifhop of Lincoln, in 
his chapel at Barbican, December 23, 1660. He was ejected 
because he could not submit to the subscription required by 
the Act of Uniformity. 

After his ejectment, Ray travelled for some time in different 
parts of Europe, and returned in 1665-6. In November, 
1667, he was elected fellow of the Royal Society. In June, 
1673, he was at Middleton, in Warwickfhire, where he 
married. He then removed to Sutton Copfield, and shortly 
afterwards to Fulborn Hall, not far from Black Notley. On 
the death of his mother he came to live at his native parish, 
where he said, ' I intend to settle the short pittance of time 
I have yet to live in this world.' There is a touching 
reference to the death of his mother in his diary : c March 

s s 



594 John Ray. 

15, 1678, departed this life, my most dear and honoured 
mother, aged, as I suppose, seventy-eight; whose death, for 
some considerations, was a great wound to me. Yet have I 
good hope that her soul is received to the mercy of God, 
and her sins pardoned through the merits and mediation of 
Jesus Christ, in whom she trufled, and whose servant she 
hath been from her youth up.' He resided at Black Notley, 
in a house of his own erection, and there he died, January 17, 
1704, and was buried, according to his own desire, in the 
parish church. There is a small monument erected to his 
memory there, which was originally erected in the churchyard, 
but was afterwards removed into the church. It contains this 
inscription:— ' Eruditissimi viri Johannis Raii, A.M. | Quic- 
quid mortale fuit | Hoc in angufto tumulo reconditum est | 
At Scripta J Non una continet regio : | Et Fama undequaque 
celeberrima | Vetat Mori. | Collegii S. S. Trinitatis Cantab 
fuit olim Socius | Necnon Societatis Regiae apud Londinienses 
Sodalis I Egregium utriusque Ornamentum | In omni Scien- 
tiarum genere | Tarn Divinarum quam Humanarum | Versa- 
tissimus | Et sicut alter Solomon cui forsan unico Secundus, | 
A Cedro ad Hyssopum | Ab Animalium maximis, ad minima 
usque Insecla | Exquisitam na£r.us est Notitiam. | Nee de 
Plantis solum, qua patet Terras facies | Accuratissime disseruit 

I Sed, et intima ipsius viscera sagacissime rimatus | Quicquid 
notatu dignum in universa Natura | Descripsit. | Apud exteras 
Gentes agens | Quae aliorum oculos fugerunt, diligenter ex- 
ploravit, | Multaque scitu dignissima primus in Lucem protulit : 

I Quod superest, ea Morum simplicitate praeditus, | Ut fuerit 
absque Invidia Doclius : | Sublimis Ingenii | Et quod raro 
accidit, divini simul animi et modefti | Non sanguine at 
Genere insignis, | Sed quod majus | Propria Virtute Illuftris. 
De Opibus Titulisque obtinendis | Param solicitus j Haec 
potius mereri voluit quam adipisci; | Dum sub Privato Lare, 
sua sorte contentus, | (Fortuna lautiori dignus) consenuit. | In 
rebus aliis sibi modum facili imposuit, [ In studiis nullum. | 
Quid Plura? | Hisce omnibus | Pietatem minime fucatam 
adjunxit, | Ecclesiae Anglicanae | (Id quod supremo halitu 



yohn Ray. 595 

conformavit) | Totus et ex animo addictus. | Sic bene latuit, 
bene vixit, vir beatus | Quae prsesens Aetas Colit, poftera 
mirabitur.' 

Calamy says of him, ' although he was a lay conformist, and 
frequented the publick prayers and sacraments as long as his 
health and strength would permit, yet he was a considerable 
sufferer by the Act of Uniformity, and he was never to be 
persuaded to a minifterial conformity. After the revolution, 
when Dr. Tillotson, who was his intimate acquaintance, was 
advanced to the see of Canterbury, some of his friends in 
London were earnest with him to move that prelate for some 
preferment in the church, but he always declined it, giving his 
reason to an acquaintance in the country, who urged him upon 
that head, that though c he made use of the Book of Common 
Prayer, and approved of it as a form, yet he could not declare 
his unfeigned assent and consent to all and everything contained 
vs\ it.' To another person he said, he thought the parents 
the fittest persons to be inflrucTied to promise for their own 
children, and accounted it an error to have sponsors ; and con- 
demned the practice of bringing scandalous and unfit persons 
under such a solemn vow and promise, in the office for 
baptizing children.' 

A complete catalogue of the learned works of this dis- 
tinguished man is given, for the first time, by Dr. Edwin 
Lancafter, one of the profeflbrs at New College, St. John's 
Wood, in an admirable memoir prefixed to the c Ray Cor- 
respondence,' publifhed under his editorfhip by the Ray Society, 
1858. They are very numerous, chiefly written in Latin, 
and nearly all on scientific subjects. A volume of Ray's 
select remains was publifhed in 1760 by W. Derham, then 
rector of Upminfter.* 



* Cal. Ace. 87 j Cont. 120 5 Lancaster's Memoir. 



S S 2 



CHAPTER IV. 



MINISTERS EJECTED OR SILENCED IN OTHER 

COUNTIES, WHO AFTERWARDS SETTLED 

OR LABOURED IN ESSEX. 



Samuel Backler. Ejected from Whatfield, in the county 
of Suffolk. According to Walker this was a sequeftration. 
George Carter had previously been the rector. According to 
the same authority, Carter had also been rector of Elmset. 

The Rev. R. A. Peckham, the present rector of Whatfield, 
kindly informs me, from the parish regifters, that Backler 
settled there in 164.9, anc ^ ^ so tnat ne built the parsonage 
house in 1657. ^ e further obliges me with the following 
entries relating to him: 'September 15, 1661, Samuel, son 
of Samuel Backler, cl., and his wife, baptized. June 10, 
1662, Ann Backler, the loving wife of Samuel Backler, buryed. 
January 23, 1663, Samuel, the son of Samuel Backler, was 
buryed.' 

Shortly after his. ejection, Backler removed to Dedham, 
where he died, and was buried at Whatfield, January 18, 
1687. His funeral sermon was preached by John Fairfax. 
During his residence at Dedham, Backler preached at Man- 
ningtree, as 22nd July, 1672, a license was granted to him 
to be a ' Congregational teacher in the house of George 
White,' in that town. The present congregation at Man- 
ningtree dates only from the commencement of this century .* 

Nathaniel Ball. Ejected ? from Barley, in the county of 
Herts. He was born at Pitminfter, near Taunton Dean, in 
Somersetshire, in the year 1623. His parents had the great joy 
of seeing him decided in early life. Having passed from the 

* Cal. Ace. 654 j License Book S. P. O. ; ante p. 340. 



Nathaniel Ball. 597 

country schools to the University of Cambridge, he was 
admitted into King's College. Here he became diftinguished 
as a claflical, oriental, and biblical scholar. He also spoke 
French so well that he was sometimes taken for a native of 
France. While at the University he formed the acquaintance 
and gained the respect, among others, of Tillotson, afterwards 
archbifhop of Canterbury. After his removal from the Univer- 
sity he settled at Barley, the vicarage of which parish had then 
recently been sequeftered from Herbert Thorndike, who was 
also, according to Walker, ejected from his fellowfhip at 
Trinity College, Cambridge. While at Barley c he spent 
himself in his Master's work, and shined as a burning light in 
the golden candlestick, wasting himself and shortening his days, 
as the candle is consumed by giving light to others, by his 
indefatigable labours. Here he married the daughter of a 
neighbouring minifter, by whom he had ten sons and three 
daughters.' Five of these were born at Barley : Nathaniel, 
December 17, 1652; Samuel, July 10, 1654; Gabriell, May 
25, 1656; Joseph, May 20, 1657; and Mary, February 24, 
1658. These are all entered in the parish regifter as children 
of c Mr. Nathaniel Ball, minifter, and Mary, his wife.' Thorn- 
dike recovered his living, and Ball was ejected. 

After his ejectment, Ball resided for a short time in c the 
parish where he had been a minifter,' and then removed to 
Royfton, where c the people . . . chose him as their publick 
minifter.' After the paffing of the Act of Uniformity this 
post also failed him, as c the tenderness of his conscience and 
great zeal for the purity of gospel worfhip kept him from 
conforming.' He did not immediately leave Royfton, but 
' continued in the town for some time,' going up and down as 
opportunity offered, preaching to and exhorting such as came in 
his way. He afterwards retired to Little Chishill ; of which 
parish his brother-in-law, Robert Parr, became the rector soon 
after the ejection of James Willett. While at Chishill, Ball 
not only preached there, but also at Epping, Cambridge, Bay- 
ford, and several other places. In 1668 we find him taking 
part with Scanderet, Barnard, Havers, Coleman, and Billio, in 



598 Nathaniel Ball. 

two public disputes with George Whitehead, the Quaker. 
And in 1669 he is returned to Sheldon as being c teacher to a 
conventicle at Thaxted, in connection with Scambridge (Scan- 
deret) and Billoway (Billio).' On the declaration of 1672, 
Ball, who is then described as of Nether Chishill, was licensed 
to be a 'general Prefbyterian teacher in any allowed place.' 
His license bears date 25th May, 1672. In June, 1672, his 
house at Epping was licensed to be a c Prefbyterian meeting 
place,' and he himself was licensed in August to be ' a Prefby- 
terian teacher in his own house ' there. 

During this period of indefatigable labour Ball suffered great 
privations. c He lived in a small cottage, of forty shillings a 
year rent ; and frequently suffered the spoiling of his goods, 
but would frequently say that he never lived better than when 
he knew not how to live. His great labours in his Matter's 
vineyard shortened his days, but drew him nearer to his rest. 
In his sickness his patience was most exemplary, bearing his 
pains with a Chriftian fortitude, and refigning himself for life 
and death unto his Lord's disposal. For him to live was to 
glorifie Christ, and to die was gain. So he might be further 
useful and serviceable in his miniftry, he was well contented 
with life ; but to be dissolved and to be at home with Christ 
being better for him in case of unserviceableness, this was 
earnestly desired by him. To such as visited him in his 
languifhing he gave serious counsels of providing in health for 
sickness, in life for death, in time for eternity. He was much 
in prayer for the afflicted church of God, bitterly lamenting the 
case of England, mourning for those great sins committed in 
the midst of us, and trembling at the thoughts of those heavy 
judgments hanging over our heads. He sadly and sorrowfully 
laid to his heart the unnatural breaches among Proteflants. 
He was grieved at heart for the unbecoming lives of many 
minifters, and of multitudes of professors of so pure a religion 
whose lives indeed are a flat contradiction to it. He had long 
waited for his blessed change, and that salvation he had 
believed, prayed, and expected : the Lord, his Master, whom 
he had faithfully served, put him into possesion of it at last. 






William Blackmore. 599 

He left this life for a better . . . the 8th of September, 168 1, 
at the age of fifty-eight.' He left his papers to his friend, 
Thomas Gouge, then minifter of St. Sepulchre's, London. 
Gouge, however, died in a few weeks after him, October 29, 
1 68 1. They afterwards fell into the hands of John Faldo, 
who had also been silenced by the Act of Uniformity, and 
who publifhed a volume of Ball's writings, entitled ' Spiritual 
Bondage and Freedom ; or, a treatise containing the subftance 
of several sermons preached on that subject from John viii. 36.' 
Lond., 1683, 8vo. There is also attributed to Ball, ' Christ 
the Hope of Glory, several sermons on Col. i. 27.' 1692, 8vo. 
Faldo's volume is dedicated c to the right honourable and truly 
virtuous the Lady Archer, of Coopersail, in Essex,' who was 
one of Ball's numerous friends."* 

William Blackmore. He was ejected from St. Peter's, 
Cornhill, which living had been sequeftered from William 
Fairfax, as well as that of East Ham, in this county. He 
was not the immediate succeflbr of Fairfax, however ; Thomas 
Coleman was appointed to the sequeftration, and Blackmore 
seems to have succeeded him. He was the brother of Sir 
John Blackmore, who was a major in the Parliamentary army, 
one of the members for Tiverton, in Cromwell's Parliament 
of 1654, and sheriff of the county of Devon in 1657. 

Blackmore was of Lincoln College, Oxford. He first 
received episcopal ordination at the hands of Pridaux, bifhop 
of Worcefter, and afterwards Prefbyterian orders from the 
1 Classis.' This last exempted him from the confirming 
clauses of the act of 1660, notwithstanding which, however, 
he was not difturbed in his living until 1662, as the seques- 
tered rector had died in 1655. In December, 1645, we ^ n ^ 
Blackmore at Pentloe, in the sequeftration afterwards occupied 

* Cal. Ace. 362; Palmer ii. 309; the Rev. R. A. Gordon, the present 

Faldo's epistle, prefixed to the 'Spiritual rector. Thorndike, Walker ii. 160; 

Bondage and Freedom.' Brook's Hist. Newc. i. 8. He assisted Walton in the 

of Religious Liberty ii. 66 ; Entry Book * Polyglot.' Wood, Fast. ii. 48 ; Parr, 

and License Book S. P. O. ante p. 340. Newc. ii. 151, 150. Lady Archer was 

For the extracts from the parish regifter the wife of Sir John. Mor. i. 163, ante 

Barley, I am indebted to the courtesy of p. 498. 



600 William Blackmore. 

by Henry Esday. He resigned the rectory of Pentloe in 1646, 
and his resignation was accepted by the Committee for Plun- 
dered Ministers, on the 1st of September, in that year. Fie 
then removed to London, where we find him among the c sixty 
minifters ' who subscribed a petition to Cromwell to show no 
violence to the King. He was also about this time ' scribe 
to the provincial afTembly of London,' at whose inftance he 
drew up that part of the ' Jus Divinum Regiminis Eccle- 
siastics,' which treats of ordination by imposition of hands. 
He became involved with Cawton and Jenkyn, and others, in 
Love's plot. For this he was apprehended and imprisoned, 
but was released by Cromwell, at the interceffion of his 
brother. He was of great service to Love at his trial, and 
was one of those to follow him to his untimely grave. After 
his ejection from St. Peter's, he retired into EfTex. In April, 
1672, he was licensed to be a c Prefbyterian teacher in his 
own house,' and on the same day his house was licensed to be 
c a Prefbyterian meeting house.' The house is described as 
c in Home Church.' His wife, Mary, was buried at Romford, 
November 13, 1678, and Blackmore himself was also buried 
there, July 18, 1684. The entry of his burial in the parish 
regifter describes him as from Hare Street.* 

There are traces of a Nonconformist church at Romford as 
early as June 22, 1692, when William King was ordained as 
the paftor, in Dr. Annesley's meeting house, Little St. Helen's. 
This ordination is said to have been the first that took place 
publicly in London, after the passing of the Act of Uniformity. 
Peter Goodman is the next paftor, of whom any record 
remains. He put the chapel 3 which had been already built 
for some time, into trust in the year 17 17. In 1716 the 
congregation is returned as containing two hundred and fifty 
hearers, of whom three are described as having votes for the 
county. Goodman removed tcr Yarmouth in 1720, and was 
succeeded by Joseph King, who died in 1729. Thomas King 

* Cal. Ace. 355 Cont. 43; Add. See Zech. Fitch, ante p. 461. His will 

MSS. 15669, 527, 15670, 4255 Li- bears date May 2, 1684, and is signed by 

cense Book, S. P. O., ante p. 340. him as 'of Hornchurch.' 
Notes and Queries, August 30, 18625 



John Butler. 60 1 

now succeeded, but removed to London in 1730, when he 
was succeeded by William Sheldon ; Sheldon by Thomas 
Ellis j Ellis by Edward Smith ; and Smith by Thomas 
Strahan. Hitherto there had been a second place of worfhip 
at Havering ; this was now taken down, and the materials 
were used for the erection of the present building at Romford, 
in 1823. Strahan was succeeded by the Rev. W. Holloway, 
who is at present the incumbent of Stratford; Holloway by 
Samuel Hanna Carlile ; Carlile by the Rev. Charles Latham ; 
and Mr. Latham by the present paftor, the Rev. Aaron 
Buzzacott, B.A.* 

John Butler. Ejected from Felt well, in Norfolk. He 
was minifter of Oldton in 1648, when he was one of those 
who subscribed a document, publifhed by the Norfolk minis- 
ters, similar to the c Effex Teftimony.' c He was a man of 
sound judgment and unblameable life. After his ejection he 
preached but seldom for some years, and was prevailed upon to 
travel to Smyrna. On his return he preached oftener; more 
statedly, at Harwich, whence he removed to Ipswich, where 
he preached occasionally, and in the country round.' He died 
in 1696, at the age of eighty-four. His funeral sermon was 
preached by John Fairfax. 

The congregation at Harwich afterwards had for its minifter 
David Stort, who removed to Swallow Street, London, in 
1705. Stort was succeeded by Thomas Rappit, who removed 
here from Hadleigh, and died in 1726. After an interval of 
some months, Samuel Quincy became the minifter in 1728. 
His stay seems to have been short, as was that of his succeffor, 
Patterson, who also removed before the year had closed. Isaac 
Henly was afterwards the minifter, but at what date does not 
appear. Nevil Morrell was minifter from 1779 to 1799, wnen 
he died, and was succeeded by William Hordle ; Hordle by 
John Hill ; Hill by the Rev. C. S. Carey j and Carey by the 
present minifter, the Rev. J. T. Barker. f 

* Romford Church Books j Returns son and Blackburn MSS. \ Wilson, Hist, 
of 1716, ante p. 353. of Diss. Churches iv. 144. 

f Cal. Ace. 480 ; Cont. 622 $ Mori- 



6o2 Samuel Cradock. 

Samuel Cradock. Ejected from North Cadbury, Somerset. 
He was of Emmanuel College, Cambridge ; was incorporated 
M.A., at Oxford, in 1649 ; and kept the Bachelor of Divinity's 
Act, at the public commencement at Cambridge, in 1651, 
when his performance was c highly applauded and reckoned for 
the honour of his Puritan college.' The rectory of Cadbury 
was in the gift of the Master and Society of his college, by 
whom he was presented to it about 1656. After his ejectment, 
on the death of his relative, William Cradock, of Wickham 
Brook, he came into the possession of a considerable estate in 
that parifh. He therefore removed there, and shortly opened 
an academy, where several persons who afterwards attained to 
considerable eminence received their education, among them 
Edmund Calamy, so often quoted in these pages. This step 
being challenged as a violation of the University Oath, which 
at Cambridge was as follows : ' Jurabis quod nusquam, preeter 
quam Oxonige, Lectiones tuas solemniter resumes, nee con- 
senties ut aliquis alibi in Anglia incipiens hie pro Magistro 
vel Doctore in ilia Facultate habeatur,' he drew up an elaborate 
and valuable paper in self defence, which it would appear was 
freely circulated among his friends. Calamy has printed the 
paper in full in his c Continuation.' 

There is an entry in the License Book of a license granted 
to Cradock to be a ' Presbyterian teacher at Geesing in Wick- 
ham, in Suffolk,' under date April 2, 1672 ; and also another, 
under the same date, of a license allowing c a certain house, 
called Geesings, to be a place for a Presbyterian teacher.' He 
removed from Wickham toBifhop's Stortford, where he settled 
as pastor of the church, being then, it is said, seventy-nine 
years of age. While there he extended his labours into the 
neighbourhood, and among other places to Stansted, in this 
county. He died at Bifhop's Stortford, October 7, 1706, in 
the eighty-sixth year of his age, and was buried at Wickham 
Brook. Mr. Samuel Bury, the son of Edmund Bury, the 
ejected rector of Great Bolas, in Shropshire, and who was then 
minifter of Bury St. Edmunds, preached his funeral sermon, in 
which he says of him : c It appears from his papers that he 



Samuel Cradock. 603 

feared the Lord from his youth. He began betimes to lay in a 
stock of learning and knowledge. He continued fellow of 
Emmanuel College many years, and was not a little useful 
among the many pupils entrusted with him. The nation is 
not a little obliged to him for many serviceable instruments in 
Church and State, both in and out of the establifhment. He 
preferred the peace of his conscience before any emoluments, 
and therefore readily resigned his living of ^300 a-year, con- 
cerning which he writes thus : c God gave me my living, he 
called for it, and I readily parted with it. * Of thine own have 
I given thee.' Nor did he to his dying day repent what he 
had done.' 

Cradock's publications were numerous, I. c Knowledge and 
Practice ; or, a Plain Discourse of the chief things to be 
known, believed, and practised, in order to salvation.' Lond., 
1659, 1673, 1702, with additions, folio. 2. c A Catechism on 
the Principles of the Christian Faith.' 1668. 3. c The Har- 
mony of the Four Evangelists, and their text methodized 
according to the order and series of Times ; wherein the 
entire history of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is me- 
thodically set forth.' Lond., 1668-9, folio. 4. 'The Apos- 
tolical Hiftory, containing the acts, labours, travels, sermons, 
discourses, &c., of the Holy Apostles, from Christ's ascension 
to the deftruction of Jerusalem.' Lond., 1672-3, folio. 6. 
c A Supplement to Knowledge and Practice, wherein the main 
things necessary to be known and believed, in order to salva- 
tion, are more fully explained, and several new directions given 
for the promoting of real holiness both of heart and life.' Lond., 
1679, 4.to. 7. 'A Serious Dissuasive from some of the reigning 
and customary sins of the times, viz. : swearing, lying, pride, 
gluttony, drunkenness, uncleanness, &c.' Lond., 1679, 4to. 
8. c The Old Testament Hiftory methodized.' 1683. 9- ' A 
Brief and Plain Exposition and Paraphrase on the Revelation.' 
Lond., 1692. * 

Francis Crow. Ejected from the vicarage of Hundon, 

* Cal. Ace. 581 ; Cont. 731 ; Palmer ii. 178 ; License Book, S. P. O., ante p. 
340; Wood, Fasti. 71 ; see p. 474. 



604 



Francis Crow. 



Suffolk. He was by birth a Scotchman, and was of a good 
family. He was educated in France, under the celebrated 
Du Moulin. The inftitution of his succession at Hundon 
is entered in the diocesan register as, c per ejectionem sive 
amotionem Francisci Crowe, ult. vicarii.' After his ejectment 
he had permiffion to live for a time in the parsonage, from 
whence he shortly removed to another house in the parish. 
He, however, soon left Hundon, and settled at Ovington, in 
this county. 

While at Ovington he preached usually twice every Lord's 
day, between the times of worfhip in the parish church. 
There is an entry of a license granted to him under date ist 
May, 1672, to be a c Prefbyterian teacher in his house,' in that 
parish, and under the same date, another of a license granted 
' to his house to be a Prefbyterian meeting house.' From 
Ovington he removed to Clare, where he preached in a public 
meeting house, and continued for some years. He also paid 
monthly visits to Bury St. Edmunds, where he preached to a 
large congregation. Towards the close of the reign of Charles, 
he was apprehended at Bury, but through some irregularity 
in the proceedings that were taken against him, he escaped. 
After this he was so frequently involved in trouble, that he was 
driven to emigrate to Jamaica. Calamy has printed a letter 
which he wrote from thence to his friend, Giles Firmin. It 
is dated March 7, 1686-7. Crow says, ' I have been here, 
by the good hand of God, now almost a year. I have not 
written to any .... until I send you this, to whom, with 
my dear brethren, Mr. Havers and Mr. Scanderet, I thought 
it my duty to give this first salute. The severity of the times 
threatened much my personal safety, in the place where the 
hand of the Most High had so sorely and signally broken my 
family, upon which a retreat, at least for a time, was judged 
not amiss ; and, in the interim, meeting with a speaking 

Providential call, I could not resist it Here I found 

sin very high, and religion very low The better sort 

of merchants and mechanicks adhere to us. And indeed it 
would be disingenuous if, upon this head, I should conceal 



Francis Crow. 605 

the kindness of our congregation, in allowing me a liberal 
maintenance. As the wicked here are more prophane than in 
England, so the professors are more lukewarm and worldly. 
Most of them are Anabaptifts and Independents, whose 
opinions I could willingly wave, to carry on the great work 

of godliness But most of them having been members 

of congregations in London, and elsewhere in England, excuse 
themselves from living under any paftoral charge or inspection 
here. And for anything I see, the thing sticks not so much 
at a diversity of principles, one from another, or from me, or 
any tenaciousness of their private opinions, as a wretched 
Laodicean tepidity. It will greatly rejoice me to hear from 
you all.' In 1687, Crow returned to England, and settled at 
Clare, where he remained until his death, which took place 
in 1693. He publifhed, 1. 'The Vanity and Impiety of 
Judicial Aftrology.' Lond., 1690, 8vo. ; and since his death 
there appeared, c Mensalia Sacra; or, Meditations on the 
Lord's Supper, with a brief account of his life prefixed. ' 
Lond., 1693, 8vo. 

Crow's succefTor at Clare was George Porter, who was 
ejected from his fellowmip at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 
1662. He had been canon of Christ Church, and proctor of 
the University in the second year of John Owen's vice- 
chancellormip. After his ejectment he resided for some time 
at Lewes, and then at Eastbourne, in Sussex. He was a 
friend of Giles Firmin, with whose 'Weighty Considerations 
Considered/ he was much pleased. There are three letters 
of his in Rogers' ' Trouble of Mind.' He died in 1697, at 
the age of seventy-four. The Rev. J. Elrick, the present 
minifter of Clare, obliges me with the information that he 
was buried at Ovington, and sends me the following copy of 
the inscription on his tombftone, which is 'broken in twain, 
and just falling to pieces :' ' Here lieth ye body of George 
Porter, A.M., some time fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 
and senior proctor there, afterwards paftor of a congregation 
in Clare, who died July, 1697.' Porter left a MS. volume 
of thirty sermons, in which he says, under date March 16, 



606 Thomas Doolittle. 

1695-6, f all these are designed as a legacy for the church at 
Clare after my decease.' * 

Thomas Doolittle. Ejected from St. Alphage, London 
Wall. He was a native of Kidderminfter, where he was 
born in 1630. His parents were of the flock of Richard 
Baxter, whose discourses, afterwards published in the well 
known volume entitled the ' Saint's Rest,' were the means of 
Doolittle's conversion. He was of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. 
He was elected, by the suffrages of the parifhioners, to the 
rectory of St. Alphage in 1653. The last entry of his in the 
parish regifter is in April, 1660. He gained much respect, 
and realized much usefulness. The day after he preached his 
farewell sermon, one of his parifhioners presented him with 
twenty pounds, saying, £ there was something to buy bread for 
his children, as an encouragement to his future trust.' 

After his ejectment, Doolittle set up a school in Moorflelds, 
where he continued until the breaking out of the plague. He 
then retired to Woodford Bridge. In this village many resorted 
to his house for worfhip. He returned to London before 1672, 
as in that year, under date 4th April, there is entry of a license 
allowing ' a certain roome adjoyning his dwelling house, in 
Mungwell (sic) Street, to be a place for a Prefbyterian teacher.' 
Previously to this he had been in the habit of preaching in that 
room, and had often been in trouble for it. On one occafion, 
while he was in his sermon, a company of soldiers came into 
the place, and the officer called aloud to him : ' I command you 
in the King's name to come down.' Doolittle answered, c I 
command you in the name of the King of Kings not to difturb 
his worfhip, but to let me go on ! ' Upon which the officer 
bid his men fire ? Doolittle, undaunted, clapped his hands upon 
his breast, and said, £ Shoot, if you please, you can only kill the 
body.' After this the authorities interfered, and the pulpit was 
pulled down and the doors fastened with the King's seal. The 
room was re-opened, but Doolittle was compelled to retire once 

* Cal. Ace. 647 ; Cont. 790, segg. j License Book S. P. O. ante p. 340. 
Porter, Cal. Ace. 705 Cont. 104. 






. Day. 607 

more. He returned home to Monkwell Street about 1669, and 
continued to preach there until his death, May 24, 1707. * 

. Day. Ejected from a scholarfhip in Emmanuel Col- 
lege, Cambridge. After his ejection he became associated 
with Holcroft and Oddy, and ultimately settled down as paflor 
of a Congregational church, which was formed at Wood Hall, 
in the parish of Arkesden. Wood Hall was then the residence 
of Richard, father of John, afterwards Baron Cutts, of Gowran. 
The members who conftituted the church had been connected 
with a similar community at Cambridge, which was under the 
paftoral charge of Holcroft. The date of the formation of the 
church is 22nd December, 1682-3. According to the general 
practice of such churches at that period, the members drew up 
and signed ' a covenant,' in which they say : c We, having 
obtained mercy to be planted in the house of our God in His 
church in Cambridgefhire, being now multiplied in these parts, 
desire thankfully to acknowledge the mercy of our God to us, 
and to that His church, preserved and increased under many 
afflictions, having lately desired our dismiflion .... in order 
to our closely walking with the Lord, in the order of the gospel 
.... and having now been refigned up and commended to 
them for these purposes .... doe here, in the sight and 
audience of our most holy God and Father, and in the presence 
of our King the Lord Jesus, our beloved and hope, the elect 
angels, and in the presence of his elect church .... and in 
the presence of these beloved and honoured elders and mes- 
sengers of other elect churches, here present, join ourselves in 
a perpetual covenant, that we may be a habitation of God 
through the Spirit, walking in profound subjection to our Lord 
Jesus, our King; cleaving to Him and to one another, according 
to his new commandment .... In witness of these our 
solemn vows, we lift up our right hands to heaven, to our God 
who liveth for ever.' Soon after its formation, as appears from 
a list still extant, the church consifted of eighty-six members, 
whose residences were in the diftant parifhes of Hatfield, 

* Cal. Ace. 52 ; Cont. 75 j Palmer ii. 87 5 Malcolm, Lond. Ridic j Wilson, Hist. 
Diss. Churches iii. 190. 



608 . Day. 

Hallingbury, Stanfted, Farnham, Manuden, Berden, Clavering, 
Neasdon, Langley, Chifhill, and Elmdon. 

Such a community might not escape persecution. c Some 
soldiers,' it is said, c once ported themselves at the door by 
which the congregation were accuftomed to leave the hall, in . 
order to apprehend one of the members, who had been re- 
ported to the authorities by some of the informers of the time. 
On this person making his appearance, and being challenged as 
to his name, he replied, c My name is Hephzibah, and I dwell 
in the Land of Beulah.' This answer so irritated one of the 
informers who was present, that he discharged a volley of oaths 
at his victim, but his companions, thinking they were talking 
to a lunatic, infisted on letting him go. Sometimes they dared 
not meet at the hall, nor anywhere indeed during the day; and 
then it was. their practice to assemble in a wood in the parish, 
at the hour of midnight, when they worfhipped God and 
celebrated the Lord's Supper. Several churches, it appears, 
were formed by this devoted people, the original members of 
which were dismissed by them for that purpose. Notwith- 
standing this, however, in 1 712 it appears that the number of 
members was still considerable. 

In the meanwhile Day had entered into rest. The date of his 
death is uncertain. William Notcutt (p. 495), afterwards (1705) 
of Thaxted, then seems to have preached here for a season. 
There was now an interval of several years, during which we 
know little of the church, beyond the fact that Henry Robinson 
preached there from January, 17 12, to September, 17 14, and 
that they were in the habit of holding their meetings in private 
houses in the neighbourhood, and especially at Newport. In 
1715, Thomas Sewell, a member of the church at Thorp 
Whatfield, in Northamptonfhire, became their paftor. During 
his miniftry the church assembled at Wendon and Clavering 
alternately. In 17 16, the congregation is returned as containing 
seven hundred hearers, of whom thirty-four are described as 
having votes for the county, one as having a vote for Herts, 
and one for Cambridgefhire. Sewell refigned towards the end 
of the year 1744, and was succeeded by Francis Peechey, who 



Samuel Fair dough. 609 

was ordained on the 19th of September in that year. Peechey 
seems to have died about 1760. During his miniftry a new- 
chapel was erected at Wendon. Robert Crossfield succeeded in 
1762, and died the year following. The next paftor was John 
Reynolds, who removed to Camomile Street, London, in 1774. 
John (Joseph ?) Harrison succeeded the year following. During 
his miniftry the meeting house at Wendon was taken down, 
and a new one was erected inftead of it at Newport. This was 
in 1779. Harrison was succeeded in 1781 by John Bailey. 
Four years after this Newport and Clavering separated, and 
both henceforward became independent communities. During 
Bailey's miniftry anew meeting house and house for the minifter 
were built at Clavering. In 18 10 Bailey became one of the 
tutors at Wymondley College, and was succeeded the year 
following by J. B. Pearce, afterwards so well known at Maiden- 
head, whither he removed about 1825. Pearce was succeeded, 
in 1827, by the Rev. Henry Bromley; Bromley, in 1846, by 
John Reynolds ; Reynolds by David Flower, in 1849 > an< ^ 
Flower by the present paftor, the Rev. J. G. Carpenter, to 
whom I am indebted for much of the preceding information."* 

Samuel Fair dough. Ejected from the rectory of Kedington, 
in Suffolk. He was the son of Laurence Fairclough, vicar 
of Haverhill, where he was born, April 29, 1594. After 
receiving his early education under Mr. Robotham, who said of 
him, ' that he was the first scholar that he had ever sent forth 
in the thirty years' time that he had been a master,' he was 
sent to Cambridge at the age of fourteen. He had already 
received serious impreffions under the able ministry of Samuel 
Ward, then lecturer at his native place. Ward had answered 
for him in baptism, and had always a hearty love for him. 
c Preaching one day on the converfion of Zacchaeus, and dis- 
courfing upon his fourfold reftitution in cases of rapine and 
extortion, Mr. Ward used that frequent expreffion, c that no man 
can expect pardon from God, of the wrong done to another's 
eftate, except he make full reftitution to the wronged person, 

* Cal. Ace. 128; Morison and Blackburn MSS. Clavering Church Books. 
Returns of 17x6, ante p. 353. 

T T 






6 io Samuel Fair dough. 



if it may possibly be done.' This was a dart directed by the 
hand of God to the heart of young Fairclough, who, together 
with one John Triggs, afterwards a famous phyfician in London, 
had the very week before robbed the orchard of one Goodman 
Jude, of that town, and had filled their pockets with the fruit 
of a mellow pear tree. At and after sermon young Fairclough 
mourned much, and had not any sleep all the night following ; 
and, rifing on the Monday morning, he went to his companion, 
Trigg, and told him that he was going to Goodman Jude's to 
carry him twelve pence by way of restitution for three penny 
worth of pears of which he had wronged him. Trigg, fearing 
that if the thing were confessed to Jude he would acquaint 
Robotham, their mafter, therewith, and that corporal punifhment 
would follow, did earnestly strive to divert the poor child from 
his purpose of reftitution. But Fairclough replied, that God 
would not pardon the sin except reftitution were made. To 
which Trigg answered thus : ' Thou talkest like a fool, Sam ; 
God will forgive us ten times sooner than old Jude will forgive 
us once.' But our Samuel was of another mind, and therefore 
he goes on to Jude's house, and then told him his errand, and 
offered him a shilling, which Jude refused : though he declared 
his forgiveness of the wrong, the youth's mind smarted so that 
he could get no rest till he went to his spiritual father, Mr. 
Ward, and opened to him the whole state of his soul .... 
Mr. Ward .... proved the good Samaritan to him, pouring 
wine and oil into his wounds, answering all his queftions, 
satisfying his fears, and preaching Jesus to him so fully and 
effectually that he became a true and sincere convert, and 
dedicated and devoted himself to his Saviour and Redeemer 
all the days of his life.' 

At Cambridge Fairclough entered Queen's College. He 
had not been long at Queen's before he was recommended by 
the mafter as sub-tutor to Spencer, Lord Compton, the eldest 
son of the then Earl of Northampton. At Cambridge he 
formed the friendship of the great Puritan divines : John 
Preston, master of Emmanuel; John Davenant, afterwards 
bifhop of Salisbury, then Margaret profeffor j Arthur Hilder- 



Samuel Fair dough. 611 

sham, fellow of Christ's ; and William Perkins, preacher at 
St. Andrew's church ; as well as of others who were scarcely 
less distinguifhed both for godliness and learning. While yet 
young one of his many friends offered him the living of Halsam, 
in the county of Suffolk, but not being of age to receive prieft's 
orders, he declined it, and preferred to place himself under an 
experienced minifter, at least for a time. Samuel Ward re- 
commended him to Richard Blacerby, then resident at Ashen, 
in this county ; of whom Calamy says, that c he was an 
eminent divine, greatly skilled in the Hebrew tongue, and 
reputed one of the holiest men on earth.' 

Blacerby was a native of Worlington, in Suffolk, where he 
was born in 1574. He was educated at Trinity College, 
Cambridge, and was one of the many converts of William 
Perkins. On leaving the University he became chaplain to 
Sir Edward Lewkner, of Denham. While at Denham he 
married Sarah, daughter of Timothy Prick, alias Oldman, who 
was then minifter of the parish, and whose alias had been 
assumed by his father in the reign of Mary. From Denham 
he removed to Feltwell, in the county of Norfolk, where he 
was soon involved in trouble for his nonconformity, and being 
forced to fly, he came to Essex, and settled at Ashen. There 
he remained for twenty-three years, 'conftantly preaching in the 
neighbourhood, more statedly at Castle Hedingham, Stoke by 
Clare, and Hundon.' A contemporary periodical says, that 
c preaching at Halsted on one occafion,' he ' told the people 
that to bow at the name of Jesus was to thrust a spear into 
Christ's side, and that such minifters as signed children with a 
cross did as much as in them lay to send such children to the 
devil.' Here he also educated several pupils, who became no 
less diftinguifhed than Fairclough, among others Jonas Proost, 
who was some time minifter of the Dutch congregation at Col- 
chefter, and afterwards removed to London. He was still at 
Ashen in 1644, as April 10, of that year, at the examination 
of William Jones, c the parifhioners defired of the committee 
that old Mr. Blacerly may be their minifter.' He left Ashen 
to reside with his son-in-law, Chriftopher Burrell, rector of 

t t 2 



612 Samuel Fair dough. 

Wratting, in Suffolk j and while there he statedly preached at 
Geftingthorpe. Blacerby ultimately became paftor of a church 
at Great Thurlow, in Suffolk, where he died, at the age of 
seventy-seven. He was a diftinguifhed scholar, and such was 
the reverence in which he was held as a chriftian, that Daniel . 
Rogers, of Wethersfield, used to say he never could come 
into his presence without trembling."* 

While Fairclough remained at Ashen he preached much in 
the neighbourhood, and especially at the stations frequented by 
his revered tutor. His first settlement as a minifter was at 
Lynn, in the county of Norfolk, where he was elected town 
lecturer. The then bifhop of Norwich was Samuel Harsnet. 
Fairclough was already a nonconformist, and among other 
delinquencies, he was guilty of omitting to use the sign of the 
cross in baptism. This soon reached the bifhop's ears, and 
the result was that Fairclough retired. He now accepted a 
similar but less conspicuous position at Clare, at which place 
he had often preached while at Ashen. While at Clare, he 
married the daughter of Richard Blacerby. He had not been 
there long before Sir Nathaniel Barnard ifton, who was fre- 
quently one of his hearers, presented him to the living of 
Barnard ifton, June 27, 1623. At Barnard ifton he 'preached 
twice every Lord's day, once upon every feftival day, and once 
a month, a preparation sermon for the Lord's Supper.' He 
soon became again involved in trouble. One of the minifters 
at Sudbury being ill, Fairclough occupied his pulpit for him, 
and in the evening he repeated the sermon which he had 
preached to the family in whose house he lodged. For this 
articles were exhibited against him in the Star Chamber, where 
the suit was prosecuted against him for more than two years, 
and was at length only brought to an issue ' through the 
influence of one,' whom it appears that Harsnett ' could not 
well disoblige.' Shortly after this, the rectory of Kedington 
was avoided by the death of the incumbent, and his friend, Sir 
Nathaniel, presented Fairclough to the vacancy. It is said that 

* Brook's Lives iii. 965 Clark's Lives iii. 63 — 655 Merc. Rust. iv. 375 Cole 
MSS. xxviii. 26. 



Samuel Fair dough. 613 

the baronet also procured him inftitution, 'without his personal 
attendance upon the bishop, taking the oath of canonical 
obedience, or subscribing the three articles.' c In this place,' 
Calamy tells us, c he continued nearly thirty-five years, 
preaching four times a week — twice on the Lord's day, a 
Thursday lecture, which was attended by all the minifters 
round for many miles compass, and a sermon on the Saturday 
evening at his own house. When he first came to this place 
he found it ignorant and profane, not so much as one family 
in twenty calling upon the name of the Lord ; but when he 
had been there some time, so great was the alteration, that 
there was not a family but profefTed godliness, but their 
governours offered up their morning and evening sacrifice.' 

In the meanwhile Fairclough was frequently in trouble for 
not complying with the illegal innovations of the times ; but 
when the tide of affairs turned, he betrayed little active sym- 
pathy with the Prefbyterians. He was nominated on the 
Assembly of Divines, but procured himself to be excused. 
He was also offered the mafterfhip of Trinity, but refused to 
accept it. He absolutely refused the engagement. He was 
one of many to whom all extremes were equally diftafteful, 
and, therefore, when the crisis came he was the more prepared 
to c count all things but loss ' for Christ. c Unfeigned affent 
and consent to all and everything' in his case was impossible. 
Accordingly, he threw up all, and cast himself upon the world. 
It was no small comfort to him that he was succeeded by no 
worse a man than John Tillotson, afterwards archbifhop of 
Canterbury, whose institution appears in the diocesan regifter 
as c per non subscriptionem seu abrenunciationem, secundu 
a£t.u Parliamenti in eo casu provisum ultimi incuben. Ibi. vaca.' 

Fairclough seems to have remained at Kedington for some 
time after his ejectment, but after the passing of the Five 
Mile Act, he felt himself constrained to remove. He now 
took up his abode at Finchingfield, where he had the comfort 
of living for some time in the same house with two of his sons 
and two of his sons-in-law, who were minifters, and had left 
their livings, c who, being scattered before in five different 



6 14 Samuel Fair dough. 

counties, were brought together in the time of this storm.' 
The sons were Richard and Samuel, of whom some notices 
follow ; and the sons-in-law, George Jones and Richard Shute. 
Jones married Fairclough's daughter Jane, March 22, 1655. 
He was then of King's Lambourne, Hampshire. He con- 
formed after this, and became rector of Heveningham. Shute 
also conformed, and became vicar of Stowmarket. The five 
remained at Finchingfield for some four or five years, preaching 
by turns in the family and to such of the neighbours as chose 
to come in. ' It was a constellation of stars, every one of 
whom had afforded a very fair light when it was separate, but 
now being all in conjunction, they drew the eyes of much 
people into the corner upon them.' When they were dispersed, 
Fairclough went to reside with his youngest son, John, who 
was incumbent of Kennet, in Cambridgeshire, and had con- 
formed. After having remained with him for some time, he 
alternated his residence with his daughters at Heveningham 
and Stowmarket, until his death, which occurred in the latter 
place, at the advanced age of eighty-four. He was buried 
near the vestry door of the church at Stowmarket, where there 
is a stone with the following inscription : ' Here lyeth the body 
of that eminent divine Mr. Samuel Fairclough, who was many 
years minifter of Ketton, in this county, but dyed in this town 
the 13th of December, 1677, in the 84th year of his age.' In 
the parlour of the parsonage at Kennet, in Cambridgefhire, is 
a fine old picture with the inscription : ' H EIKX2N rov Qsov 
ANAPOE KAPAKTHP. This is the picture of Samuel Fair- 
clough, rector of Ketton, in Suffolk, grandfather to Mr. 
Fairclough, rector of Kennet ob. Stowmarket, 14 Dec. 1677.' 
Fairclough publifhed, 1. 'A Sermon preached before the 
House of Commons, on Josh. vii. 21.' April 4, 1641. 2. 'The 
Troubler Troubled ; or, Achan condemned and executed.' 
Lond., 1641, 4to. 3. 'The Prisoners' Praise for their deli- 
verance from their long imprisonment in Colchefter.' Ps. cxlix. 
5, 6, 7, 8. A thanksgiving sermon for the deliverance in 
Colchefter, preached at Rumford, September 28, 1648. 4. 
' The Saint's Worthiness and the World's Worthleflhess 3 



Richard Fair dough. 615 

a funeral sermon for Nathaniel Barnard ifton.' August 26, 1653. 
To this there is an appendix, containing several elegiac poems, 
entitled, 'Suffolk's Teares.'* 

Richard Fair dough. Ejected from Mills, in the county of 
Somerset. He was of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where 
he was a fellow. At Mills he was c a burning and a shining 
light, and was resorted to by all the country round.' His 
labours were almost incredible. Besides his usual exercises on 
the Lord's day of praying, reading the scriptures, preaching, 
catechising, and administering the sacraments, he usually, five 
days in the week, betimes in the morning, appeared in public, 
prayed, and preached an expository lecture upon some part of 
the scripture in course, and he always had a considerable con- 
gregation, nor did he produce anything in public that did not 
smell of the lamp. Besides which he found time for visiting, 
not the sick only, but all the families within his charge, in a 
succeffive course, when he would personally and severally 
converse with every one that was capable, labouring to under- 
stand the present state of their souls. Every day, for many 
years together, he used to be up by three in the morning, and 
to be with God while others slept. He preached also often at 
the lectures settled in other places of the county, and was very 
active and much respecled in the meeting of the minifters by 
way of association for the preservation of common order.' 

After he left Finchingfield, Fairclough became paftor of a 
church in Newman Street, London. Thence he removed to 
Briftol. He died in London, July, 1684, at the age of sixty- 
one. His funeral sermon was preached by John Howe, and 
was afterwards published. That great man said of him : ' He 
was of a large and great soul, comprehensive of the interests of 
God, the world, the church, his country, his friends, and, with 

* Cal. Ace. 635 ; Cont. 786; Ward's Lives iii. 153. Sculpins belonged at that 

Works, appended to Nichols' edition of date to John Marshall, who had married 

Adams iii. vii. ; DavyMSS. B.M. ; Hars- Dorothy, the daughter of George Meade, 

net, ante p. 145. Among the entries of Nortofts. Mor. ii. 367. Richard 

copied by Davy, from the Kedington Shute died 3rd Feb., 1686-7, aet - fifty - 

regifters is : 'John Fairclough, son of eight. Davy's MSS. 
Samuel, buried 5th April, 1672.' Clark's 



616 Richard Fair dough. 

a peculiar concernedness, of the souls of men, ready to his 
uttermost to serve them all ; made up of companion towards 
the distressed, of delight in the good, and of general benignity 
towards all men. He had a soul, a life, a name darkened with 
no cloud but that of his own great humility, which clouded him 
only to himself, but beautified and brightened him in the eyes 
of all others, an humility that allowed no place with him to any 
aspiring defign or high thought that could ever be perceived 
by word, look, or gefture, except the high thoughts and designs 
which neither ought to be excluded nor repressed. He was a 
very public bleffing in that country while he kept his public 
station in it, and when the time approached of his quitting it, 
he earneflly showed his conftant, great moderation, in reference 
to the controverted things that occafioned his doing so, in all 
his reasonings with his brethren about them. And it further 
appears in the earnest bent of his endeavours to form the minds 
of his people, as much as it was poffible, unto future union 
under the conduct of whoso should succeed him in the serious 
cure of their souls; and to a meek, unrepining submiffion, to 
that present separation which was now to be made between 
him and them. In the subftantial things of religion no man 
was more fervently zealous, about the circumftantials none 
more cool and temperate. But he could in nothing prevaricate 
with his once settled judgment, or depart in his practice one 
ace from it. His great contempt of the world, and remoteness 
from making the sacred office subservient to secular interefl, 
too soon appeared in the mean condition to which he was 
brought (by) his deprivation. For some years, as I have heard 
him say, he did owe much of his subsiftence to the bounty of 
some worthy citizens of London, whose temper it is to take 
more pleasure in doing such good than in having the world told 
who they were.' 

Richard Fairclough was buried in Bunhill Fields, where a 
monument was erected to his memory, as a c teftimony of 
gratitude for many obligations, by Thomas Percivall, of the 
Middle Temple, Gent. Anno Domini 1682.'* 

* Cal. Ace. 5825 Cont. 735. 



Samuel Fair dough, junior. 617 

Samuel Fair dough, the younger. Ejected from the rectory 
of Houghton Conquest, in the county of Bedford. He 
was fellow of Caius College, Cambridge. Almost the earliest 
entry in the parish regifter at Kedington, after his father became 
rector, as I am kindly informed by the Rev. W. H. Syer, 
the present rector, is that of the publication of a c compact 
of marriage between Samuel Fairclough and Miftress Frances 
Folkes, of Kedington, on the 14th, 21st, and 28th days of 
October, 1655.' He is then described as of Houghton 
Conquest. He died December 21, 1691, and was buried 
at Heveningham, of which place his brother-in-law, George 
Jones, was then rector. On a marble slab, in the centre of 
the chancel of the church, there is this inscription : c In this 
vault are deposited the bodys of that learned, pious, and 
faithful minifter of the gospel, Samuel Fairclough, and Frances, 
his most virtuous and beloved wife. He was the son of 
Samuel Fairclough, that late eminent and pious paftor of 
Kedington, in the county of Norfolk, and true heir of his 
minifterial gifts and graces. He departed this life ye 21st 
December, in ye year of our Lord 1691, aged sixty-six years.' 
And within the communion rails, against the north wall, is a 
small rcund monument, on the tablet of which there is the 
following : 

* Reader, look hence, under yon marble rest 
The best of preachers, and his wife, the best 
Of women ; there do their afhes lye : 
Their dearer souls are mounted 'bove the sky, 
On thrones of glory ; but they'll ere long returne, 
And re-assume those afhes from that urne. 

Do prophets live for ever? Can the best 

Of Heaven's ambassadors from death's arrest 

Pretend a franchise too ? Behold this shrine — 

See here a prophet, and complete divine, 

One whom the thankless world too late well knew, 

And by his absence find him to be so. 

When prophets die the worst of ills we fear, 
When envoys are recalled some war is near ; 
One only refuge is, He still doth live, 
Who did both prophets and apoftles give.' 



618 William Folkes, Robert Gouge. 

His funeral sermon was preached by a conformist, a Mr. 
Parkhurst, then incumbent of Yoxford, in the county of 
Suffolk, who says of him, c he shined very openly while laws 
permitted him, and when this protection failed this light was 
unhappily obscured from public view. Very unhappily, for 
it had been alone worth an act of comprehension to have 
included this one, so valuable a man.' It appears that he 
publifhed nothing but seven pages before Mr. John Shower's 
funeral sermon for Mrs. Anne Barnardifton, 1681, 4to.,and an 
epiftle before his brother-in-law's (Mr. Richard Shute) funeral 
sermon, in 1689.* 

William Folkes Ejected from All Saint's, Sudbury. 
After his ejectment he went to live at Wenham, in the county 
of Suffolk, where he had a small eftate. He succeeded Owen 
Stockton, at Colchefter. See p. 374-t 

Robert Gouge. He was silenced at Ipswich. He was a 
native of Chelmsford, and was educated at Chelmsford, it 
should appear, at the expense of Lord Fitzwalter. At Cam- 
bridge he was a pupil of the celebrated Henry More. When 
he left the University, he settled at Maldon, where c he both 
preached and taught school.' From Maldon he removed to 
Ipswich, where Samuel Petto, who was afterwards ejected 
from Sandcroft St. Cross, writing to Samuel Slater, afterwards 
ejected from St. Katharine's, Tower Hill, on the 16th of 
August, 1658, speaks of him as c paftor of a Congregational 
church.' Gouge continued to reside at Ipswich, after he 
was silenced, until about the year 1674, when he became 
paftor of the church at Coggefhall. He died at Coggefhall, 
in October, 1705, at a ripe old age. Gouge publifhed, ' The 
Faith of Dying Jacob ; or, God's presence with His Church 
notwithstanding the death of His eminent Servants : being 
several sermons from Gen. xlviii. 21, occasioned by the death 
of Mr. Isaac Hubbard, with the Memorials of his Life and 
Death, and Advice to his son.' Lond., 1688. He was the 
father of Thomas Gouge, who was succeffively minifter at 

* Cal. Ace. 91 ; Cont. 129; Davy f Cal. Cont. 789 j Davy MS S. B. M. 

MSS. B. M. 



Francis Holer oft. 619 

Amfterdam, and paftor of the church at the Three Cranes, 
Thames Street, London, and of whom Isaac Watts says, that 
' he was one of the three greatest preachers in his younger 
time, the other two being John Howe, and Joseph Stennett.' * 

Francis Holcroft. Ejected from a fellowfhip in Clare 
Hall, Cambridge. He was the son of Sir H. Holcroft, Knt., 
whose name appears on the c Claffis ' as one of the elders of the 
parish of East Ham. While a pupil at Clare Hall, he was 
chamber-fellow with John Tillotson, afterwards archbifhop of 
Canterbury. He was a communicant at SwafFham Prior, of 
which Mr. Jephcot, the succefTor of Edmund Calamy, was 
then incumbent. Mr. Jephcott was also one of the sufferers 
from the Act of Uniformity. 

'His chamber being over the college gate/ says Palmer, 
c Holcroft often observed a horse waiting, for a long time on the 
Lord's day, for one of the fellows to go to preach at Sitting- 
ham, a village thirteen miles diftant, and often returning 
without the preacher, who was much given to intemperance 
and debauchery. Touched with compassion for the souls of 
the neglected country people, and ashamed of continuing idle 
in the college, when preaching was so much wanted, he offered 
to supply that parish. The offer was accepted, and his miniftry 
was very much blessed there.' He also statedly preached at 
Bassingbourne, and extended his labours into the neighbour- 
hood for many miles around. 

After his ejectment, Holcroft considered himself still the 
paftor of the large and scattered flock which he had thus 
gathered, and determined to preach and adminifter the ordi- 
nances to them in separate bodies, ' at the different towns 
where they lived.' As this was too much for him to accom- 
plish alone, he assembled his people at Eversden for them to 
consider the matter, and they chose Joseph Oddy, J. Waite, 
and Mr. Beare, or, as Holcroft himself seems to have written 
the name, Bard, as elders. The next year following, 1663, 
Holcroft was imprisoned in Cambridge Castle, ' for preaching 

* Cal. Ace. 645 j Peck, Desid. Cur. ii. 505 j Wilson, Hist. Diss. Churches ii. 69 5 
Dale, Annals of Coggefhall 199 j ante 364. 



620 Francis Holer oft. 

at Eversden.' Oddy also shared the same fate, and Bard only 
escaped by flight. They were indicted at the aflizes for the 
county, under the act of Elizabeth, and were sentenced to 
abjure the realm or to suffer death as felons. The Earl of 
Anglesea represented their case to Charles, who reprieved them, 
but they do not seem to have received their liberty until the 
indulgence of 1672, when both of them resumed their labours 
with more vigour and earneftness than ever. Holcroft was 
soon imprisoned again, and the intention was to proceed against 
him once more under the outrageous act of Elizabeth, but he 
was removed under a writ of c certiorari ' to the Fleet, whence, 
after remaining some time, he was discharged. While in the 
Fleet he was a frequent preacher, and great crowds resorted 
to hear him. 

Exceflive labours, and frequent and long imprisonment, soon 
so impaired the health of this devoted man, that it became neces- 
sary to relieve him of part of the pastoral oversight of the whole 
of the church which he and his colleagues had gathered. The 
church was accordingly divided, each separate division confti- 
tuting a several and independent fellowfhip. He continued to 
decline until January, 1692, when he died, at Triploe, in 
Cambridgeshire. He was buried at Oakington. Palmer says, 
c there is scarcely a village in Cambridgefhire but some old 
person can show you the barn where Holcroft preached.' His 
labours in Essex were also very extenfive, as may be seen from 
the notices of Clavering and Stansted. His funeral sermon was 
preached by Mr. Milway, then minifter of Bury St. Edmunds, 
on Zech. i. 5,6; and was afterwards publifhed. Holcroft 
publifhed a sheet, intituled C A Word to the Saints from the 
Watch Tower.' 1668, i2mo. This was written by him 
when a prisoner in Cambridge Castle. * 

* Cal. Ace. 865 Cont. 120; Palmer appears in the parish regifter every year 

i. 239. Jephcot. 'The Suffolk Bartho- without intermiffion from 1624, the date 

lomeans, by Edw. Taylor.' Lond., 1840, of his admiffion, to 1660, the date of his 

8vo. Act of Elizabeth, ante p. 87. death. At this latter date William Scarlett 

Calamy and Palmer are miftaken in became vicar, conformed, and retained 

saying that Holcroft was ejected from the the vicarage until his death, in 1700. 

vicarage of Bassingbourne, as I am in- Clavering, p. 607 $ Stansted p. 474. 
formed that the signature of John Lawson 



Robert Howlett^ Joseph Oddy. 621 

Robert Howlett. Ejected from the rectory of Hinderclay, 
in the county of Suffolk. The inftitution of his succeffor is 
thus entered in the regifter of the diocese, c p. amotionem, 
incapacitatem sive deprivationem R5ti. Howlett, clici ulti. 
rect. sive incis. ibem.' After his ejectment he came to Col- 
chefter, and kept a school there. May 22, 1672, his house in 
the parifh of St. Martin's was licensed to be an c Independent 
meeting house.' * 

Joseph Oddy. In one of the spy books among the MSS. in 
the State Paper Office, which is preparing for publication by 
Mr. Clarence Hopper, who has kindly obliged me with the 
use of some extracts from it, this name is spelt Audey. He 
was a native of Leeds and a fellow of Trinity College, 
Cambridge. He afterwards held the living of Mildred, in 
Cambridgeshire. After his ejection from his fellowfhip and 
living he retired to Willingham, in the Isle of Ely, where 
Nathaniel Bradfhaw, who was ejected from the rectory of the 
parifh, had formed a church in his own house. Bradfhaw 
removing to London in 1666, Oddy became his succeffor at 
Willingham. Here he was so much followed that persons 
travelled twenty miles to hear him, and c he was sometimes 
constrained by the numbers that attended to preach in the open 
fields.' He was now frequently imprisoned, and it is said that 
at one time he was confined five years together. In the spy 
book he is reported as an c aflistant to Mr. Holcroft, lives three 
miles from Royston, at Mildred, where are conventicles of 
many hundreds, both Independents and Baptists ; ; and again, as 
' an aflistant to Holcroft and Lock, who rides by turns with 
the said Lock into Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, and Bed- 
fordshire, to gather concourse of people to their meetings.' 

Oddy and his colleagues became the founders of several 
Congregational churches in Cambridgeshire, and also of at 
least one in the county of Effex — the church at Clavering. 
He died May 3, 1687, and was buried at Oakington, in the 
same tomb where his colleague, Holcroft, was afterwards 

* Cal. Ace. 316 j Cont. 647} License Book S. P. O. ante p. 340 j Stockton, 
ante p. 370. 



622 Jonathan Patne^ Edward Rogers. 

buried, in 1692. It is said of Oddy, that c on being insulted 
by one of the wits of Cambridge, after he was released from 
prison, in the following extempore lines : 

« Good day, Mr. Oddy, 
Pray how fares your body ? 
Methinks you look damnably thin 5' 

he as promptly replied : 

* That, Sir, 's your miftake, 
'Tis for righteousness' sake, 
Damnation's the fruit of your sin.' * 

Jonathan Paine. Ejected from the vicarage of Bishop's 
Stortford, to which he had been presented by Joseph 
Crowther, the ejected vicar of Great Dunmow. The ad- 
mission of his succeflbr at Stortford is thus given in Newcourt : 
' Nat. Crowcher (sic), 13th September, 1662, per amoc. (sic) 
ult. vie' f After his ejectment, Paine laboured much in 
Essex. See Dunmow and Thaxted. 

Edward Rogers. Calamy says, ' he was ejected from the 
rectory of Westcot, in the county of Gloucefter/ and also 
that ' he was ejected at Medley, in Herefordfhire. I suppose 
that one of the two was a sequeftered living, but cannot 
say which.' From information kindly supplied me by the 
Rev. T. B. Pantin, the present rector of Weftcot, I suspect 
an error in Calamy's statement as to the locality of Weftcot. 
Edward Loggin, of Trinity College, Oxford, was rector of 
Weftcot, in Gloucefterfhire, in 1630, and was also buried there 
in 1672, but there is no evidence of his sequeftration. I have 
not been able to obtain any information from Medley. Some 
years after his ejectment Rogers came to reside at Chelmsford, 
where he became paftor of a congregation, and died about the 
year 17034 

* Cal. Ace. 88 ; Cont. 122; Palmer's 88; Cont. 127. Holcroft and Clavering, 

Nonconformist Mem. i. 275. Thomas p. 607. 

Locke was a scholar of Trinity. He was f Cal. Ace. 360 ; ante 385, 478, 495. 

also ejected. Palmer i. 280 j Cal. Ace. J Cal. Ace. 331 ; ante p. 467. 



Stephen Scanderet. 623 

Stephen Scanderet. Ejected from Trinity College, 
Cambridge, and also silenced at Haverhill, where he was 
lecturer. His father was yeoman of the wardrobe to Charles 
I. He was M.A. of both Universities, and Calamy says, 
' he was conduct of Trinity.' c After the return of King 
Charles, he was ordered by Dr. Duport, the vice-matter, 
(Dr. Wilkins, the mafter, being absent), to read the service 
book in the chappel. He desired him to stay and see whether 
the Parliament required it; but he would allow of no delay, 
and insifted on it that it should be done the next morning. 
Mr. Scanderet refused. The doctor then told him he must 
provide another to do it, but he replied that he could not put 
another upon that which he could not in conscience do himself. 
The doctor said he would do it. Mr. Scanderet said that 'it 
was his office to pray, and he was as willing to discharge it as 
ever. While the bell was Tinging next morning for prayers, 
the doctor and Mr. Scanderet walked to and again in the ante- 
chappel, and when the bell had done, Mr. Scanderet was for 
going in, and had some ready to bear him company. The 
doctor said, c Hold, for my party is not come.' Mr. Scanderet 
began to pray, and the doctor at the same time read the service 
book, and his party came in and drowned Mr. Scanderet's 
voice, upon which he went out of the chappel, and was, by 
Dr. Fern (who succeeded Dr. Wilkins) put out of his place. 
He was afterwards silenced at Haverhill, in 1662, where he 
had been for some time preacher.' 

After his ejectment, Scanderet continued to reside at Haver- 
hill, and to preach there and in the neighbourhood. The 
following narrative of his citation in the Ecclefiaftical Court, 
for ' preaching for the old minifter of the parish, after his 
being silenced,' is also taken from Calamy. c He owned that 
he had assilted Mr. Eyers, who was very old. But, said Mr. 
Coleman, the regifter, did you not preach ? He answered 
that he had visited the sick, but owned nothing further, that 
he might not give advantage against himself. He then, with 
great fury, bid him answer the queflion that was asked him, 
whether he had not preached ? He would make no other 



624 Stephen Scanderet. 

answer than that he had visited the sick .... Mr. Coleman 
rode to Norwich, and acquainted the bifhop, who told him 
that he had never ordained Mr. Scanderet. Hereupon he was 
summoned before Dr. King and Sir Gervase Elwes (of Stoke 
College). Sir Gervase told him he had long borne with him, 
but that now he was informed a multitude of people came to 
hear him, on horseback and on foot, it was no longer to be 
endured. Mr. Scanderet told him he hoped by bearing with 
him he had done God good service, and he did not see why he 
might not do so still. Sir George told him a cobbler or 
tinker might preach as well as he. He told him he thought 
not .... he spent several years in hard study to fit him for 

the miniftry He added, that when he had gone through 

the course of his studies he was solemnly ordained to the 
miniftry. Sir Gervase said, it was not fit that any should 
preach but such as the bishop approved. Mr. Scanderet 
answered, that he had already submitted to the examination of 
several worthy, able divines, and was approved of by them, and 
was not unwilling to submit to be examined over again ; that if 
he was either ignorant and unfit to teach, or erroneous, and so 
likely to poison the flock, or upon any account unlikely to 
edifie by his preaching, he might be sej; by. Sir Gervase told 
him he had broken the laws. Mr. Scanderet told him he 
hoped it was not the design of the laws to deprive the poor 
people of an edifying ministry. Mr. Wyers (sic), the minifter 
of the place, being by, owned that he could not preach, for 
he was eighty-five years old. Sir Gervase said, be it as it 
would, as to that the law must take place. But, said he, the 
Parliament hath made an additional act, that persons ordained 
by bifhops shall continue till Chriftmas if they conformed. 
Then Mr. Scanderet desired the perusal of the act, and having 
viewed it, desired that he might have the benefit of it.* Sir 

* This was 15 Charles II., 6, 4, had ' thereby been deprived of their dean- 

which provided for the cases of those eries, canonries, prebendaries, mafterfhips, 

who, not having subscribed before the fellowships, parsonages, vicarages, or other 

2,4th of August previoufly, ' through ab- Ecclefiastical benefices or promotions.' 

sence, or sickness, or other inability,' In such cases, on subscription before 25th 



Stephen Scanderet. 625 

Gervase told him that he was neither parson, nor vicar, nor 
curate, nor lecturer, and so not included in any of the titles 
mentioned. Mr. Scanderet replied, that if under one or other of 
these titles he was silenced by the Act of Uniformity, he hoped 
that under the same title he might have some further allowance. 
Sir Gervase told him he was not ordained by a bishop. Mr. 
Scanderet said, that that was more than was proved. Sir 
Gervase told him that the bifhop of Norwich informed him 
that he did not ordain him. Mr. Scanderet saying that there 
were a great many bifhops, and it did not follow from thence 
that he was ordained by no other bifhop, he was bid to produce 
his orders : not being able to do that his c mittimus ' was 
drawn up. Conftables were sent for, and ordered to wait 
below, but he made a shift to get out of the room, and haftened 
to get home, and for that time escaped \ for, though the church 
was in Suffolk, and it was in that county that the conftable 
lived, yet his house was in EfTex, and there he held on 
preaching. Upon this the court excommunicated him, and 
Mr. Wyers read the excommunication publicly in the church.' 
Calamy also relates, that some time afterwards Scanderet 
was to preach a lecture at Walfham, in the Willows, a sinecure. 
c The liturgy was read, and afterwards Mr. Scanderet came in 
and preached. In the midst of the sermon, Sir Edmund 
Bacon, Sir Gervase Elwes, Sir Algernon May, and two other 
juftices, came into the church, and afked him what authority 
he had to preach, and forced him to come down, and he was 
sent with some other minifters to Bury gaol. After a while 
they . . . bound them all . . . to appear at the next assizes. 
Mr. Scanderet was there, but did not answer when he was 
called, and when he saw his brethren remanded to gaol he 
withdrew. Afterwards going home, he met Sir Edmund on 

Dec, the deprival was to be cancelled. tunity of subscribing if he pleaded ina- 

Scanderet was charged with an act that bility to subscribe before, the charge could 

was unlawful, on the ground that he was not be suftained. This plea fixes the date 

not legally a clergyman. The benefit of the examination as between the day 

which he claimed clearly was, that seeing when the act received the royal sanction 

that the act allowed him still the oppor- and the December following. 

U U 



626 Stephen Scanderet. 

"'•-the road. He was very severe upon him for not appearing 
at the assizes, and would take him prisoner. He riding away, 
Sir Edmund's servant pursued and stopped him. When Sir 
Edmund came up to him, he first lashed at him with his whip, 
and then, snatching Mr. Scanderet's cane from him, laid on 
severely on his head and body with his own cane, he doing 
what he could to save his head with his arm, that was 
miserably black and blue from his head to his shoulder. He 
sent him prisoner to Ipswich, rather than Bury, that, as he 
said, he might break the covers. From thence he sent for and 
, obtained a habeas corpus for tryal at the Common Pleas, 
where, having declared how he had been dealt with, he was 
discharged, when he returned to Haverhill, and notwithstanding 
his persecution, persevered in preaching still.' 

There are traces of Scanderet's labours covering a wide 
extent of country in that neighbourhood. In 1668 he was 
engaged in a public dispute with George Whitehead, the 
Quaker, in which he was assifted by five more of his brethren, 
Barnard, Havers, Coleman, and Billio. In 1669 he was re- 
ported to Sheldon as having a c conventicle at Great Sampford,' 
and also as having another in c Thaxted, in connection with 
Nathaniel Ball and Robert Billowe.' Calamy also speaks of 
him as preaching to the people at Waterbeach. There he 
' was apprehended by an officer, who committed him to two 
others, but he escaped from them. Then he preached at Mr. 
Thurlow's house, in Cambridge, and was difturbed by the 
mayor, and fined ten pounds.' 13th May, 1672, he took out 
a license to be a ' Prefbyterian teacher' in the house of Joseph 
Addy, in Haverhill, which was at the same time licensed to be 
a ' Prefbyterian meeting place.' 

Scanderet died December 8, 1706, aged seventy-five, and 
was buried in the chancel of Haverhill church. Palmer tells 
us that ' Mr. Bury, at the end of his funeral sermon for Mr. 
Cradock, mentions several other ejected n inisters who died 
near the same time, and among the rest Mr. Scanderet, of 
whom he writes thus : ' We have now an account of another 
ancient minifter of Christ in these parts, a loss which will be 



Samuel Slater. 627 

felt by many, inasmuch as his service was not confined to a 
little compass. He was a man of primitive piety and good 
works, an holy, humble, and laborious servant of Christ. . . . 
His life was a life of holiness, faith, service, and communion 
with God, and, as a reward thereof, he had ordinarily the peace 

of God in his soul His pains and infirmities, his 

watchings and wearinesses, his persecutions and imprisonments, 
his bonds and his stripes, for Jesus' sake, are now all over.' ' 

Scanderet publifhed, 1. c An Antidote against Quakerism.' 
2. ' Doctrine and Inftruction ; or, a Catechism touching many 
weighty points of Divinity.' 1674, 8vo. 

The succeflbr of Scanderet, in the church which he formed 
at Haverhill, was Thomas Green, who died in 1732. Green 
was succeeded by Thomas Millaway, poffibly a son of the 
Millaway who took out a license at Coggefhall in 1672. 
Millaway died in 1787, and was succeeded by William Hum- 
phreys ; Humphreys by James Bowers, in 1792; Bowers by 
the Rev. Abraham C. Simpson, now LL.D., in 1820 ; 
Simpson by James Davies, in 1832 ; Davies by the Rev. 
Robert Simpson, who was succeeded by the present paftor, 
the Rev. John Simpson.* 

Samuel Slater. Silenced at Bury St. Edmunds. He was 
son of Samuel Slater who was ejected from St. Katharine's, 
Tower, London. He was first settled at Nayland, in the 
county of Suffolk. Through the courtesy of the Rev. C. W. 
Green, the present vicar of that parish, I am favoured with 
copies of three entries in the parish regifter relating to Slater, 
the earliest of which bears date June 8, 165 1, and the latest 
April 1, 1655. 

Slater and Nicholas Claggett, who seems to have been his 
colleague at Bury, and was ejected from the vicarage of St. 
Mary's, in that town, were indicted at the first assizes after the 
reftoration for their nonconformity. Slater afterwards removed 
to London, but at what date I have not been able to discover. 

* Cal. Ace. 655 j Cont. 805 ; Palmer communications from the Rev. John 
hi. 263 ; Returns of 1669, ante p. 345 ; Simpson. 
Morison and Blackburn MSS. Private 



628 Samuel Slater. 

In 1672 he was residing at Walthamftow, in this county. A 
license was granted to him on the 21st of April, in that year, 
to be a ' Prefbyterian teacher in any allowed place,' and the 
day before, f his own house at Walthamftow' had been licensed 
to be a ' Prefbyterian meeting house.' He afterwards became 
paftor of a considerable congregation in Crofby Square, 
Bifhopsgate Street. He died May 24, 1704. Slater preached 
and publifhed funeral sermons for John Reynolds, the ejected 
minifter of Roughton, in Norfolk; Richard Fincher, the 
ejected rector of St. Nicholas', in the city of Worcefter \ 
Thomas Vincent, who was silenced at St. Mary Magdalen, 
Milk Street, London ; John Oakes ; George Day, the ejected 
vicar of Wivalscombe, Somerset; William Rathband and 
Thomas Gilson. Also, 1. c A Thanksgiving Sermon on the 
discovery of the Horrid Plot.' 2. c A Discourse of Family 
Religion, in eighteen sermons.' 8vo. 3. c Of Family Prayer.' 
i2mo. 4. c Of Closet Prayer.' i2mo. 5. c A Sermon before 
the Lord Mayor of London, on the Preciousness of God's 
Thoughts towards his People.' 6. c A Sermon to Young 
Men, preached December 25, 1668.' 

There are no memorials of the congregation gathered at 
Walthamftow by Slater. In 1740 a chapel was built for the 
Prefbyterians there, principally at the expense of William 
Coward, who also founded the Friday morning lecture at Little 
St. Helen's, London, in 1729, and the college which was 
afterwards conducted first at Wymondley, then in Torrington 
Square, London, and is now merged in New College, St. 
John's Wood. The first minifter of this chapel was Hugh 
Farmer, under whom the congregation greatly increased, and 
became c one of the most wealthy difTenting societies in or near 
the city of London.' Farmer was succeeded by Ebenezer 
RadclifTe, and Radcliffe by Joseph Fawcett, who resigned in 
1787. Differences now arising in the congregation on doc- 
trinal subjects, a new place of worship was erected, of which 
the first minifter was George Collison, afterwards also presi- 
dent of Hackney College. On the death of Collison, John 
Joseph Freeman became the minifter ; Freeman was succeeded 



yames Small ', Richard Taylor. 629 

by Robert Mc.Rae; Mc.Rae by the Rev. S. S. England ; and 
England by the present minifter, the Rev. John Davies.* 

James Small. Silenced at Yaxley, in the county of Suffolk. 
He was born at Sandford, in the county of Devon. The 
curate of Sandford, which is a chapel-of-ease to Cuditon, 
was the father of Ezekiel Hopkins, who, after having com- 
menced his miniftry as an assiftant to William Spurftow, 
at Hackney, conformed, and was ultimately rewarded with 
the bifhopric of Raphoe, in 1671, and that of Londonderry, 
in 1 68 1. Small and Hopkins were schoolfellows. After 
he was silenced, Small became chaplain in the house of a 
c gentleman of good eftate,' named Davies, in the west of 
England. He afterwards lived in the same capacity in the 
family of the Lord Massarene, in the north of Ireland. There, 
it would appear, he succeeded the great and good John Howe, 
on his removal from Ireland to London. Thence Small 
removed again, in the same capacity of chaplain to the family 
of Sir John Barrington, of Hatfield Broad Oak. There he 
remained as long as Sir John Barrington lived, and afterwards 
until the removal of Lady Barrington. This was in 1690. 
Small continued still at Hatfield for some years, and on the 
removal of John Warren to Bifhop's Stortford, he became 
his succefTor in the paftoracy of the church there, f 

Richard Taylor. Ejected from the incumbency of Holt, 
in the county of Denbigh. He was educated at Oxford, and 
settled at Holt when he was very young. He married Eliza- 
beth, the daughter of John Brewfler, of Withfield. 

After his ejectment he came into EfTex, and settled at 
Barking, as paftor of the congregation there, probably as suc- 
cefTor to Edward Keightley. I am kindly informed by Mr. 
Sage, so well known to the readers of ' Notes and Queries,' that 
Taylor evidently held a very high position in the parish of 
Barking, and was a man of wealth and influence. There are 
several entries relating to him in the parish regifters there, 

* Cal. Ace. 646 j Cont. 7475 Morison f Ante p. 4065 Cal. Ace. 307; 

and Blackburn MSS. ; Farmer, Biog. Brit. Cont. 474. 
Kippis v. 664. 



630 Thomas Wadsworth. 

from which it appears that his son, Richard, was baptized 
August 18, 1683 ; another son, John, December 16, 1686 ; 
his daughter, Mary, December 27, 1687 ; a third son, 
Auguftine, April J, 1691. Also, that his daughter, Mary, 
was buried October 29, 1685; he himself, August 18, 1697 ; 
another daughter, Mary, November 3, 1698 ; his son, Edward, 
May 21, 1699 ; his son, John, August 21, 1707 ; and his 
daughter Elizabeth, October 4, 1708. Taylor was buried 
near the pulpit, in the chancel of Barking church, where his 
grave-stone still remains, with the inscription, ' Here lieth ye 
mortal part of Mr. Richard Taylour, clerk, who died August 
12, 1697. In Coelo Quies.' 

Taylor's congregation became extinct. The present church 
owes its origin to the labours of George Gold, paftor of the 
church at Stratford, who preached in a ' hired house ' there, 
in 1782. The first paftor was Joseph Kennet Parker, who 
was succeeded by John West, in 18 19; West by George 
Corney, in 1825 ; and Corney by the present paftor, the Rev. 
Joseph Smedmore. - ^ 

Thomas Wadsworth. He was first ejected from the seques- 
tration of Newington Butts, and afterwards silenced by the 
Act of Uniformity, in the city of London. He was born in 
December, 1630, in the parish of St. Saviour's, Southwark. 
At the age of sixteen he was sent to Cambridge, where he 
was entered of Christ's College. The rectory of Newington 
had been sequeftered from James Meggs, who, according to 
Walker, was also rector of St. Margaret Pattens, London. 
Wadsworth was appointed to the sequeftration, with the full 
concurrence and at the earnest petition of the parifhioners, 
in 1652. He was ejected by the act of 1660, under which 
Meggs recovered both his livings. Meggs was also rewarded 
with the rectory of Theydon Garnon, in this county. 

On his ejection from Newington, Wadsworth continued in 
the Saturday morning lecturefhip, which he appears to have 
filled for some time, at St. Antholins, and also preached there 

* Cal. Ace. 716 ; Notes and Queries, Nov. i. 1862; Essex Cong. Rem. iv. 213. 



Woodward^ Abraham Wright. 631 

on the Lord's day evening. Besides these labours he preached 
at St. Margaret's, Fish Street, on Monday evenings, and 
accepted an invitation from the parifhioners of St. Laurence, 
Pountney, to become their minifter. But when the Act of 
Uniformity was passed he cheerfully abandoned all. After he 
was silenced he still persifted in preaching alternately to a 
congregation at Theobald's, and at Southwark. On the 
declaration of indulgence he took out a license to be a 
' Prefbyterian teacher in the house of Jonathan Pretiman, in 
Theobald's, EfTex.' This was May 1, 1672, and on the same 
day the house was licensed to be a ' Prefbyterian meeting 
house.' Wadsworth died October 29, 1676, aged forty-six. 
He publifhed, 1. 'A Discourse of the Immortality of the 
Soul.' 2. c A Serious Exhortation to an Holy Life.' 3. 
' Separation, yet no Schism.' 4. ' Faith's Triumphs over 
Death.' 5. ' A Short Catechism of Twelve Questions.' 6. 
' A Plea for the Absolute Neceffity of Inherent Righteousness.' 
7. c A Last Warning to secure Sinners,' being his two last 
sermons. 8. c A Collection of Meditations on the Lord's 
Supper.' 9. 'Letters.' 10. 'Practical Sermons.' 11. 
' Hymns and Poems.' 12. 'A Serious Exhortation to Self- 
Examination/ After his decease there were publifhed, ' His 
Remains,' and also ' His Life.' * 

. Woodward. Ejected from South wold, in the county 
of Suffolk. After his ejectment he preached at Harlow, in this 
county, where he seems to have founded the Baptist church. 
He also founded another congregation at Little Parndon, which 
is now extinct, t 

Abraham Wright. He was ejected from the rectory of 
Cheveley, in the county of Cambridge. After his ejectment 
he went to reside with John Meadows, of Ousden, for a time, 
and then removed to Wimbish, in this county. 

The following, which was of ' Mr. Wright's own drawing 
up, appears in Calamy's Continuation.' ' A true narrative of 

* Cal. Ace. 26 5 Cont. 22j License f Cal. Ace. 648 } Morison and Black- 

Book S. P. O. ante p. 340. burn MSS. 






632 



Abraham Wright. 



the sufferings 5/* Abraham Wright, of Wimbish, in the county 
of Essex, M.A., sometime minifler o/*Cheaveley, in Cambridge- 
shire, humbly sheweth, that in the year 1646, in the month of 
July, the said Abraham Wright was plac'd in the rectory of 
Cheaveley, bv authority of Parliament .... the said rectory, 
being .... sequeftered from Air. Robert Levit .... And 
in the year 1659 .... the said Mr. Levit died, and in the 
year following .... there was an act .... made by which 
all such minifters as were in mort livings .... were settled 
in them ; by which said act the said Abraham Wright was 
firmly settled in the rectory of Cheavely : nevertheless one Mr. 
John Deken, minifler of Newmarket, procureth a presentation 
.... and goes .... to the bifhop, and gets inftitution 
.... and comes down to get possesion .... but that 
being denied him, the said Mr. Deken .... did dissuade the 
people from paying the harvest tithes .... whereupon the 
parifhioners detained the harvest tithes, and after harvest was 
over .... Mr. Deken .... did procure five juftices of 
the peace .... who did summon the said Abraham Wright 
.... He did but desire a friend of his .... to go along 
with him to see the carriage of the business, and hewasorder'd 
. . . . to be put out of the room .... The chief thing thev 
had against the said Abraham Wright was this : That thev were 

not satisfied that he was in orders When they asked 

him the queftion .... he told them he was, and likewise 
what bifhop it was that ordained him .... and .... he 
would fetch his orders to them. ... But ... . because he 
had not his orders about him, they caused an order to be drawn 
up, that he ... . should resign the living to Mr. Deken, 
.... and about two days after .... understanding that the 
juftices were to meet at Cambridge, (he) went and took his 
orders with him .... but they would not look on them, but 
let their order run still. . . . And the said Abraham Wright 
not yielding to resign the living .... the said juftices caused 
another order to be sent to the sheriff .... which order . . . 
(he) did execute, October 28, 1663 ; he then coming .... 
turn'd the said Abraham Wright^ with three small children, 



ham Wright. 633 



>ranam 



and the rest of the family into the open street. Whereupon 
the said Abraham Wright .... did bring his action. As 
to the title to the living, the judge, who was the Lord Chief 
Baron (Sir Matthew) Hale, did declare that the said Abraham 
Wright had a title to the living .... but he proposed that a 
rule might be drawn up in court, that the counsel on both sides 
should draw up the case, and meet at his chambers in London. 
But .... (the) counsel for Mr. Deken would not appear 
.... so that the said Abraham Wright was forced to wait 
there at great charges about a month's term .... and then 
was forced to bring down the trial again the next assizes . . . 
and so they went upon a special verdict, and the said Abraham 
Wright was .... forced to attend at London .... several 
terms, one after another, till such time as the Act of Uni- 
formity was ready to come forth And the said Abraham 

Wright not yielding to what the act .... did require, there 

was a stop put to all proceedings And afterward, when 

the said Air. Deken did understand that the said Abraham 
Wright had not conformed, he did, about the beginning of 
OSfober^ 1662, arrest (him) .... which he conceiveth to be 

for that he hath taken some tithes Yet the said Mr. 

Deken never went on to declare what he had against him, for 
about the same time that he did arrest the said Abraham 

Wright^ it pleased God to arrest him with sickness 

After the decease of Mr. Deken .... the said Abraham 
Wright .... has been deprived of two years' profit of his 
living .... having nothing left him to live upon, saving 
some little temporal eftate of his own .... 23rd October, 
1680.' Wright died about 1685.* 



* Cal. Ace. 119; Cont. 158. Walker says that Lewet (sic) was sequeftered for 
his disaffection to the Parliament, ii. 291. 



X X 



INDEX. 



Aeberton, 69, 98, 217, 301. 
Act:— 

* Concerning the King's Succession,' 
14. 

'For the Appointment of Commis- 
sioners for the Approbation of 
Public Preachers,' 317. 

'For Burying in Woolen,' 435. 

'For the Confirming and Reftoring 
of Minifters,' 326. 

'For the Minifters of the Church to 
be of Sound Religion,' 67. 

'For the more effectual Propagation 
of the Gospel' by the 'Appoint- 
ment of Commissioners for the 
Removal of Scandalous and In- 
sufficient Minifters,' 318. 

' For the Removal of Certain Acts 
and Resolves of Parliament,' 317. 

' For Reftraining Nonconformifts 
from Inhabiting in Corporations,' 

355- 

'For Taking the Engagement,' 317. 

'For the Uniformity of Common 
Prayer in the Church and Ad- 
miniftration of the Sacraments,' 

57- 

'For the Uniformity of Public Pray- 
ers and the Adminiftration of the 
Sacraments,' 332. 

'For the Well-governing and Re- 
gulating of Corporations,' 330. 

'The King's Grace to be Supreme 
Head,' 14, 29. 

'To Prevent and Suppress Seditious 
Conventicles,' 344. 

'To Reftore to the Crown the An- 
cient Jurisdiction over the Eftate 
Ecclesiaftical and Spiritual,' 58. 



Act: — 

'Touching Marriages and the Re- 
giftry thereof, also touching Births 
and Burials,' 317. 
Agreement of the Associated Minis- 
ters of Essex, 458. 
Agreement of the People, 311. 
Aldham, 56, 60, no, 217, 295. 
Alphamfton, 101, 291, 317, 341, 589. 
Alresford, 97, 298. 
Althorne, 71, 94, 100, 274. 
Ardleigh, 160, 219, 296. 
.Arkesden, 167, 285, 342, 607. 
Articles : — 
Six, 19, 37. 
Forty-two, 24. 
Thirty-nine, 62, 67. 
Whitgift's, 75, 131. 
Afhden, 15, 90, 101, 283. 
Afheldham, 273. 
Afhen, 91, 101, 289, 611, 612. 
Afhingdon, 93, 269, 343, 400. 
Aveley, 95, 258. 

Baddow, Great, 141, 160, 266, 324, 

343>4i8. 
Baddow, Little, 98, 99, 100, 154, 162, 

266, 310, 318, 344, 352, 353, 390, 

486. 
Bardfield, Great, 36, 89, 283, 284, 297, 

306, 494. 
Bardfield, Little, 284. 
Bardfield, Saling, 284, 494. 
Barking, 44, 58, 205, 257, 324, 339, 

573. 629. 
Barling, 93, 219, 270. 
Barnfton, 92, 101, 281, 346. 
Beaumont, 159, 298. 
Belchamp, Otten, 101, 288, 348. 



6 3 6 



Index. 



Belchamp, St. Paul, 8, 89, 123, 288. 
Belchamp, Walter, 89, 210, 288, 292. 
Benflete, North, 111, 262, 449. 
Benflete, South, 38, 160, 261, 323, 438. 
Bentley, Great, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 57, 

97, 194, 298, 301, 350, 433. 
Bentley, Little, 97, 296, 357. 
Berden, 91, 284, 608. 
Berechurch, 98. 
Bergholt, 2, 11. 
Bergholt, West, 44, 47, 512. 
Billericay, 10, 38, 42, 340, 389, 543. 
Birch, Great, 44, 47, 170, 219, 355, 519. 
Birchanger, 89, 90, 91, 285, 318. 
Birdbrook, 9, 88, 288, 351. 
Blackmore, 99, 157, 247, 267, 324. 
Bobbingworth, 96, 102, 219, 276, 287. 
Booking, 22, 36, 43, 49, 62, 63, 64, 101, 

147, 148, 167, 290, 462. 
Boreham, 8, 14, 98, 113, 265, 345, 352. 
Borley, 89, 220, 289. 
Boxted, 3, 10, 96, 293, 354, 433, 589. 
Brackfted, Great, 103, 155, 302, 323, 

324, 486. 
Brackfted, Little, 95, 156, 160, 302, 324. 
Bradfield, 97, 140. 
Bradwell juxt. Coggefhall, 95, 156, 302, 

417. 
Bradwell juxt. Mare, 94, 103, 161, 220, 

273> 568. 
Braintree, 7, 21, 33, 37, 109, 147, 150, 

154, 168, 290, 346, 354, 417, 475, 

593- 
Brentwood, 32, 345, 411. 
Brightlingsea, 298, 542. 
Bromley, Great, 56, 98, 104, 124, 170, 

296, 404. 
Bromley, Little, 97, 298. 
Broomfield, I, 99, 154, 264. 
Brandon, 89. 

Buers Gifford, 105, 159, 260. 
Buers Mount, 89, 296. 
Bulmer, 47, 100, 291. 
Bulvan, 17, 100, 158, 261. 
Bumfted, Steeple, 3, 8, 9, 60, 166, 287, 

358. 
Bumfted, Helion, 284. 



Burnham, 273, 448. 
Burfted, Great, 40, 42, 60, 155, 259,260. 
Burfted, Little, 98, 99, 100, 220, 260. 
Butsbury, 100, 220, 266. 

Canefield, Great, 38, 92, 220, 281. 
Canefield, Little, 92, 101, 281, 323. 
Canewdon, 93, 103, 220, 270. 

Canons :— 
1604, 131. 
1640, 186. 
1660, 329. 
Chadwell, 100, 261. 
Chapel, 96, 294. 
Chapel, Black, 264. 
Chapel, Littley, 264. 
Chawreth, 281. 
Chelmsford, 18, 39, 46, 52, 53, 91, 149, 

154, *55, I57j 162, 171, 294, 319, 

358,466. 
Chefterford, 541. 
Chefterford, Great, 90. 
Chefterford, Little, 285. 
Chickney, 281, 358. 
Chignal, St. James', 159, 267. 
Chignal, Smealey, 97, 154, 267. 
Chigwell, 26, 93, 145, 192, 220, 278, 

440, 544. 
Childerditch, 156, 194, 257, 360. 
Chingford, 102, 223, 280. 
Chishill, Great, 91, 224, 285, 608. 
Chishill, Little, 181, 360, 597, 608. 
Chrishall, 287. 
Clacton, Great, 298. 
Clacton, Little, 96, 104, 298. 
Clavering, 83, 91, 268, 284, 361, 608, 

620, 621. 
Coggefhall, 12, 31, 37, 39, 47, 78, 107, 

H95 J 55, J 57, 164, 207, 264, 294, 

302, 318, 319, 363, 411, 473, 487, 

552, 556, 55$, 586. 
Colchefter, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 18, 

*4> 29, 32, 34, 40, 42, 43, 45, 46, 

47, 48, 49, 5°, 5h 5 2 , 53, 54, 55, 
56, 58, 69, 78, 79, 81, 98, 104, 106, 
107, in, 113, 114, 133, 145, 159, 
160, 171, 173, 174, 179, 180, 184, 



J 



Index. 



(>27 



189, 200, 203, 2i 8, 224, 225, 226, 

227, 237, 302, 303, 304, 305, 309, 

3*5, 3*7, 3 J 9, 33°, 345, 3^5, 373> 

377, 447, 488, 528, 529, 543, 555, 

558. 
Colne, Earls, 8, 96, 105, 164, 210, 294 
Colne, Engaine, 96, 295, 377. 
Colne, Wakes, 104, 295. 
Colne, White, 295, 368, 377. 

Commission, High Court of, 58. 
Copford, 47, 58, 62, 96, 170, 294, 318, 

355, 377- 
Corringham, 105, 228, 261. 
Cranham, 95, 104, 154, 258, 294, 378, 

465. 
Cressing, 95, 183, 302. 
Cricksea, 94, 141, 184, 274, 323. 

Dagenham, 43, 71, 103, 155, 205, 228, 

257. 
Danbury, 73, 122, 266, 357, 379. 
Debden, 184, 228, 286, 391. 

Declaration and Address of Gentry of 
Essex in 1660, 322. 

Breda, 322. 

Of Indulgence, 340. 
Dedham, 11, 12, 28, 47, 53, 112, 123, 

146, 171, 179, 293, 318, 344, 380, 

3^3,457, 581, 583, 59 6 - 
Denge, 34, 82, 94, 275. 

Directory, The, 213. 
Doddinghurst, 100, 156, 157, 256, 262. 
Doniland, East, 7, 10, 11, 53, 96, 293, ' 

397, 55i- 
Dovercourt, 11, 28, 30, 46, 97, 134, 161, I 

229, 297, 298. 
Downham, 99, 262. 
Dunmow, 82, 148, 268. 
Dunmow, Great, 45, 92, 101, 186, 201, 

281, 285, 359, 384. 
Dunmow, Little, 45, 92, 275, 281. 
Dunton, 79, 159, 261. 

Dutch Congregations, 179. 

Easter, Good, 282. 

Eafter, High, 92, 94, 121, 281, 386, 516. 

Eafthorp, 43, no, 230, 293, 486. 



Eafton, Great, 100, in, 282, 413, 538, 

539- 
Eafton, Little, 92, 101, 282, 310, 539. 
Eaftwood, 268, 271. 
Elmdon, 90, 286, 608. 
Elmfted, 104, 298. 
Elsenham, 91, 155, 286. 
Epping, 81, 108, 129, 157, 167, 177, 

280, 387, 498, 592, 598. 

Fairsted, 188, 302. 

Fambridge, North, 94, 224, 230, 275. 

Fambridge, South, 230, 269. 

Farnham, 92, 284, 566, 608. 

Faulkborne, 302, 521. 

Felfted, 154, 172, 290, 318, 348, 386, 

389, 513, 565. 
Fering, 5, 97, 104, 162, 294, 390. 
Fifield, 79, 92, 155, 276, 437, 467. 
Finchingfield, 172, 210, 290, 318, 391, 

499, 5 2 3, 613. 
Fingringhoe, 96, 301, 396, 551. 
Fobbing, 100, 159, 230, 262, 329. 
Fordham, 31, 79, 293, 397, 554. 
Foulness, 230, 271. 
Foxearth, 90, 101, 288. 
Frating, 97, 299. 
Frierning, 119, 231, 267. 
Frinton, 299. 

Gestingthorpe, 6, 88, 98, 101, 161, 

210, 291, 400, 612. 
Gingrave, 161, 231, 259, 443. 
Goldhanger, 231, 300. 
Gosfield, 104, 231, 292, 579. 
Grinfted juxt. Colchefter, 98, 104, 224, 

248. 
Grinfted juxt. Ongar, 45, 154, 232, 277, 

435- 

Hadleigh, 60, 270. 

Hadftock, 91, 232, 284. 

Haidon, 90, 232, 286. 

Hallingbury, Great, 92, 100, 233, 279, 

608. 
Hallingbury, Little, 92, 233, 279, 400, 

608. 



6 3 8 



Index. 



Halfted, 8, 47, 146, 148, 185, 188, 217, 

292, 318, 402, 611. 
Ham, 523. 

Ham, East, 95, 233, 255, 565. 
Ham, West, 28, 46, 96, 255, 256. 
Hanningfield, 514. 
Hanningfield, East, 78, 121, 267. 
Hanningfield, South, 99, 263, 266, 404, 

532- 
Hanningfield, West, 112, 234, 265. 
Harlow, 280, 631. 
Harwich, 40, 48, 53, 54, 97, 104, 169, 

184, 189, 297, 298, 601. 
Haseleigh, 155. 
Hatfield, Broad Oak, 140, 149, 206, 278, 

318, 404, 607. 
Hatfield, Peverel, 78, 1 1 8, 272, 302,513. 
Haverhill, 8, 146, 609, 623. 
Havering, 141, 256, 310, 433. 
Hawkwell, 105, 155, 269, 400, 437. 
Hedingham, Caftle, 5, 171, 290, 385, 

501, 512, 518, 611. 
Hedingham, Sible, 160, 234, 290, 410, 

511, 512. 
Hempfted, 42, 46, 78, 91, 121, 122, 

284, 406. 
Henham, 286, 324, 406. 
Henny, Great, 89, 236, 291. 
Henny, Little, 100, 291, 408. 
Heybridge, 93, 125, 1 56, 160, 300. 
Hockley, 36, 93, 271, 409, 411. 
Holland, Great, 46, 237, 296. 
Holland, Little, 299, 439. 

Holy Water Clerk, 4. 
Horksley, 7, 12, 37. 
Horksley, Great, 46, 161, 293, 447, 519. 
Horksley, Little, 324. 
Hornchurch, 246, 256, 315, 539, 546, 

578, 599- 
Horndon-on-the-Hill, 34, 35, 95, 159, 

238, 260. 
Horndon, East, 238, 260. 
Horndon, West, 105, 231, 259, 260. 
Hutton, 78, 121, 260, 416. 

Ilford, 96, 255, 257, 440. 
Informers, 371. 



Ingateftone, 99, 265, 318, 345, 411. 
Inworth, 155, 294, 410, 511. 

Kelvedon, 41, 159, 302, 363. 
Kelvedon Hatch, 60, 277, 378, 436, 

462, 514. 
Kirb yj 35) 41) i°4> 299, 465. 

Lachingdon, 100, 205, 276. 

Laingdon c. Basildon, 2, 8, 17, 39, 63, 

loo, 105, 238, 261, 329. 
Laingdon Hills, 260, 485. 
Lambourne, 186, 238, 278, 285. 
Lamersh, 89, 101, 292. 
Langenhoe, 48, 296, 301, 413. 
Langford, 103, 160, 300. 
Langham, 42, no, 293. 
Latton, 157, 279. 
Laurence, St., 94, 239, 273. 
Laver, High, 167, 275, 306, 414. 
Laver, Little, 102, 274, 414. 
Laver, Magdalen, 275, 415. 
Lawford, 156, 296, 416. 
Layer, Breton, 301, 354. 
Layer de la Hay, 97, 301. 
Layer, Marney, 13, 301. 
Leigh, 71, 114, 115, 270, 354. 
Leighs, Great, 267. 
Leighs, Little, 4, 100, 154, 264, 346, 

417. 
Leyton, 90, 256, 280, 324, 418. 
Linsdell, 92, 156, 282, 420. 
Lifton, 90, 289. 
Littlebury, 17, 90, 239, 286. 
Loughton, 278, 323. 

Maldon, 33, 37, 51, 68, 78, 81, 84, 
109, 116, 126, 184, 189, 271, 317, 
422, 515, 552. 

Manningtree, 97, 172, 596. 

Manuden, 3, 91, 239, 285, 608. 

Maplefted, Great, 5, 89, 240, 292, 469. 

Maplefted, Little, 88, 241, 292. 

Margareting, 99, 160, 267. 

Markfhall, 28, 294, 295. 

Mafhbury, 159, 242, 282. 

Matching, 73, 242, 279, 421. 



Index. 



639 



Mayland, 195, 274. 
Mersea, East, 301. 
Mersea, West, 98, 301, 350. 
Messing, 156, 295, 324. 
Middleton, 89, 243, 292. 
Milend, 96, III. 
Miftley, 172, 296. 

Moreton, 102, 105, 155, 276,427, 462. 
Mose, 97, 104, 299. 
Mountnessing, 99, 244, 266. 
MSS. :— 

Cole, vol. xxviii. 210. 

Lambeth, 639, 345. 

Lansdowne, 459, 154. 

Second Part of a Regifter, Dr. 
William's Library, Red Cross 
Street, 79. 

Sheldon, 345. 
Mucking, 154, 242, 261. 
Mundon, 94, 161,- 245,- 273. 

Nasing, 162, 281. 

Naveftock, 93, 245, 277, 430. 

Netteswell, 94, 157, 279. 

Newenden, 159. 

Newport, 90, 166, 286. 

Norton, Cold, 274, 431. 

Norton, Mandeville, 156, 277, 415. 

Notley, Black, 103, 302, 352,432, 593. 

Notley, White, 45, 94, 302. 

Oakeley, Great, 97, 297, 433. 
Oakeley, Little, 97, 104, 297. 
Oath :— 

'Ex-officio,' 77, 181. 

<Et Caetera,' 186, 189. 
Ockenden, North, 95, 104, 161, 257, 

323- 
Ockenden, South, 104, 433. 
Ongar, Chipping, 44, 101, 156, 277, 

434> 4-67> 5 6 5- 
Ongar, High, 26, 33, 62, 232, 277, 435. 
Orsett, 101, 102, 104, 208, 262, 358. 
Osyth, St., 3, 4, 9, 13, 53, 156, 177, 

299. 
Ovington, 288, 604, 605. 



Paglesham, 62, 100, 121, 271. 

Panfield, 109, 291, 437. 

Parndon, Great, 157, 279, 317, 439. 

Parndon, Little, 631. 

Pattiswick, 2, 10, 97, 192, 294, 440. 

Pebmarsh, 101, 210, 292, 441, 506. 

Peldon, 48, 97, 123, 301. 

Pentloe, 89, 288, 442, 598. 

Prittlewell, 16, 71, 78, 116, 268, 318, 

443, 504, 569- 
Proteftation, The, 193. 
Purleigh, 69, 103, 160, 246, 271. 



QUENDON, I05, 286, 444. 



Radwinter, 8, 284, 445, 572. 

Raine, 78, 84, 89, ill, 291, 292, 420, 

570, 572. 
Rainham, 258, 273. 
Ramsden, 99, 158, 261. 
Ramsey, 46, 89, 97, 297. 
Rawreth, 36, 152, 159, 246, 263, 270, 

539- 
Rayleigh, 35, 41, 46, 270, 446. 

Regicides, The Essex, 310. 
Rettenden, 45, 246, 265, 447. 
Rickling, 90, 286. 

Ridgwell, 8, 122, 289, 441, 448, 460. 
Rivenhall, 26, 302, 449. 
Rochford, 41, 69, 71, 82, 103, 170, 

269, 534. 
Romford, 20, 70, 81, 95, 256, 310,422, 

424, 462, 502, 524. 
Roothing, Abbot, 93, 102, 276, 450. 
Roothing, Belchamp, 93, 276. 
Roothing, Berners, 282. 
Roothing, Eythorp, m, 282, 514. 
Roothing, High, 102, 123, 246, 282, 

568. 
Roothing, Leaden, 91, 283. 
Roothing, Margaret, 156, 283, 306. 
Roothing, White, 92, 282, 452, 554. 
Roxwell, 38, 99, 247, 267, 324. 
Roydon, 280. 
Runwell, 159, 247, 266. 



640 



Index, 



Saffron Walden, i, 8, 17, 28, 41, 67, 

90, 172, 205, 287. 
Salcot, 97. 

Saling, Old, 89, 247. 
Samford, New, 91, 248, 324, 626. 
Samford, Old, 91, 284, 406, 626. 
Sandon, 98, 154, 266, 452. 
Shalford, 291, 440, 457. 
Shelley, 92, 103, 157, 277, 461. 
Sheering, 66, 102, 279, 378. 
Shellow Bowels, 92, 283. 
Shenfield, 99, 105, 161, 269, 462, 541. 
Shobury, North, 271, 465. 
Shobury, South, 15, 57, 71, 114, 268, 

400. 
Shopland, 71, 95, 210, 271. 

Smectymnus, 197. 

Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel, 163, 504. 
Southchurch, 40, 71, 268, 400. 
Southminfter, 100, 248, 274. 
Springfield, Boswell, 95, 156, 161, 265, 

465. 
Springfield, Richards, 155, 248. 
Stambourne, 288, 394, 467. 
Stambridge, 103, 125, 132, 248, 271. 
Stamford, 89. 
Stamford Rivers, 62, 93, 136, 139, 142, 

277 ? 435^ 47i- 
Stanford, 44, 45, 26 1. 
Stanfted, 155, 286, 473, 602, 608, 620. 
Stanway, 96, 248, 292, 576. 
Stapleford, Abbot, 102, 257, 278, 423, 

474- 
Stapleford, Tawney, 278, 422. 
Stebbing, 156, 230, 289, 475. 
Steeple, 249, 274, 572. 
Stafford, 104, 258. 
Stifted, 64, 172, 291, 432, 479. 
Stock, 105, 158, 266, 485. 
Stondon, 158, 277, 464. 
Stowmaries, 102, 274. 
Stratford, 35, 44, 46, 95. 
Strethall, 67, 287. 
Sturmere, 89, 289. 

Subscription, 24, 75, 131. 
Sutton, 268. 



Table Communion, 22, 24, 61, 143, 
177, 180, 195. 
I Takeley, 90, 249, 286. 
Tay, Great, 295, 485. 
Tay, Little, 96, 249. 
Tay, Marks, 109, 156, 294, 296, 369, 

486. 
Tendring, 102, 299. 
Terling, 154, 302, 318, 486, 574. 

Teftimony, The Essex, 307. 
Thaxted, 17, 268, 283, 490, 553, 622, 

626. 
Theydon, Boys, 250, 278, 386. 
Theydon, Garnon, 62, 250, 278. 
Theydon, Mount, 157, 496, 524. 
Thorpe, 35, 49, 250, 298. 
Thorrington, 98, 251, 297. 
Thundersley, 34, 36, 100, 159, 262, 

398. 
Thurrock, Grays, 258, 340. 
I Thurrock, Little, 263. 
1 Thurrock, West, 95, 259. 
I Tilbury juxt. Clare, 89, 289. 
Tilbury, East, 262. 
Tilbury, West, 135, 263. 
Tillingham, 34, 103, 267, 273. 
Tilty-, 78, 121, 283. 
I Tollesbury, 103, 115, 159, 251, 300. 
Tollefhunt, Darcy, 94, 103, 251, 300. 
Tollefhunt, Knights, 93, 159, 300. 
Tollefhunt, Major, 98, 103, 160, 300, 

354, 552. 
Toppesfieid, 88, 90, 289, 499. 
Totham, Great, 84, 118, 252, 300. 
Totham, Little, 300, 310. 
Twinfted, 244, 292, 350, 461, 517. 

Ugly, 100, 284. 
Ulting, 68, 95, 252, 302. 
Upminfter, 95, 258, 294, 502. 

Vang, 78, 121, 263. 
Veftments, 23, 59. 

Wakering, Great, 48, 121, 271, 317, 
504. 

Wakering, Little, 93, 103, 268. 



Index. 



64 1 



Waltham Abbey, 13, 26, 44, 69, 184, 

280. 
Waltham, Great, 152, 173, 264, 505, 

54-1- 

Waltham, Little, 119, 154, 261, 264, 

344) 5°5- 
Walthamftow, 206, 255, 323, 324, 628. 
Walton, 35, 46, 96, 299. 
Wanfted, 141, 255. 
Warley, Great, 81, 160, 257. 
Warley, Little, 157, 259, 323, 506. 

Watchword, The Essex, 312. 
Weald, North, 102, 157, 276. 
Weald, South, 32, 156, 157, 160, 18 

323, 379> 5o6. 
Weeley, 96, 102, 298, 509. 
Wendon, Ambo, 287. 
Wendon, Great, 90. 
Wendon, Little, 155. 
"Wendon, Lofts, 287. 
Wennington, 259. 
Wethersfield, 78, 88, 108, 146, 154 

172, 184, 290, 291, 366, 392, 410 

5°9> 543) 582. 
Wickford, 99, 160, 253, 263, 398, 462, 
Wickham, Bifhops, 58, 94, 299, 512. 



5," 



Wickham, Bonant, 287. 

Wickham, St. Paul, 292, 515. 

Wicks, 45, 125, 298. 

Widdington, 94, 220, 287. 

Widford, 99, 159, 265. 

Wigborough, 40, 301. 

Willingale, Doe, 92, 185, 254, 283, 328. 

Willingale, Spaine, 92, 94, 153, 283. 

Wimbish, 229, 254, 286, 287, 631. 

Witham, 7, 82, 88, 94, no, 116, 301, 

450, 518. 
Wivenhoe, 104, 295, 315, 356, 543, 

5 8 7 . 
Woodford, 15, 95, 257, 606. 
Woodham, Ferrers, 159, 266, 496, 538. 
Woodham, Mortimer, 94, 160, 274. 
Woodham, Walter, 105, 154, 272,299. 
Wormingford, 194, 293. 
Wrabness, 296. 
Writtle, 81, 119, 160, 174, 254, 265, 

418. 

Yeldham, 513. 

Yeldham, Great, 290, 324, 521. 

Yeldham, Little, 88, 290, 520. 



WARREN HALL AND CO., STEAM PRINTERS, CAMDEN TOWN, LONDON 












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